Some climbers on Cobble Climb from a past trip	Down river facing Ezra
Looking up at Silent Mind (5.11b). The bottom didn't seem to bad, but the top did!	Looking down at the base of Silent Mind. Yep, you start on a rock in the river.
The group relaxing up river by Cobble Climb	Some of the blue schist routes past the second tunnel

Wheeler Gorge is the first crag you come to as you drive north up the 33 from Ojai. Once you leave town, it takes about 5 to get to the twin tunnels, and after passing through the second tunnel there is a nice pull out on the side of the road that a lot of people use for river access on hot summer days. The majority of climbs are located between the two tunnels, so after you park you have to quickly hike south between the two tunnels and then jump over the guard rail and climb down the short hill towards the river. Pretty much all the climbs in Wheeler Gorge were formed by the Sespe River and start at either side of its base. This makes it ideal for hot summer days because of the cool drafts, nice shade, and fresh flowing water for taking a cool dip. Likewise, this place can also be freezing cold in the early spring and winter so be warned! There is also a lot of rock diversity at Wheeler's Gorge, with conglomerate river rock on the majority of the north facing walls (ie cobble stones), with sandstone on the other side, and then blue schist by the second tunnel. With the exception of a few trad lines, all the routes here are sport climbs and can be done with 4 or 5 quickdraws. I've been climbing twice at this crag and both times have done only the cobble stone climbs. This type of rock is really solid and offers ample foot placements and handholds. Several of the pockets on the walls look suspiciously hand drilled, but even if you didn't have them the rock would be really friendly. Also, some people may have trouble trusting this kind of rock because it can look like you can just pull it apart. But after hearing a climbing guide describe how the rock was formed and how it totally busted his drill bits as he was bolting some of the routes, it gave me a good trust in the rock.

Approach	5 min through tunnels and down steep hill to river
Poison Oak	Low-Medium
Sun Exposure	Partly shady in the morning, then mostly shady in the afternoon

 

 

 

 

Climbs I've Done:

Ezra (5.9 **) Sport - A short but sweet climb to the right of the tunnel (facing south towards Ojai). Ezra is a great intro into cobble stone climbing and is sustained enough to keep the lead a little spicier than one would assume.

Cobble Climb (5.8) Sport - The left most climb on the face left of the tunnel. A great all around sustained climb that gets a bit then at the top. This one is a bit taller than Ezra and shares and anchor with Cruiser, and 5.9 sport climb with a fat underclinging bulge at the beginning.