day 1

ok, so we stopped in san luis obispo to eat and get gas, and while we were there we figured we'd see if there was any climbing.

turned out there were some boulders just a few minutes from where we ate, so we drove to the parking area, hiked the short approach, and got to it.

there were only a couple of boulders, but the rock was nice; some kind of volcanic stuff that felt really solid, and had lots of little crimpers, which i liked. we put in a couple of hours on the two main boulders (called pete and chlorissa), did a little on another one that was a poison-oak infested 5 minute-hike away, and decided to move on to santa barbara.

the area we went to in santa barbara is up on top of the coastal mountains, and has mind-blowing views of the channel islands and the surrounding area.

the rock is fine-grained sandstone, with scary, slopey, highball, top-outs, and holds that have a disconcerting tendency to break off.

the boulders are nestled here and there in the chapparral, and are hard to see from the ground, but once you get on top of them it's pretty easy to see the full extent: there are TONS of them, and very few people. the whole time we were there we only saw one other party of climbers.