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no-nonsense travel guide

MUST-GO after Hueco – How to get to Last Chance Canyon

Posted on March 25, 2024

Where to Sport Climb Close to Hueco Tanks

After 3 weeks bouldering in Hueco Tanks, our bodies were spent. As we planned for the next stages of our trip, people kept telling us about a sport climbing crag called Last Chance Canyon near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Though we wanted to keep driving west, the itch to sport climb got a hold of us and we headed north-east from Hueco. It turned out to be exactly what we needed after so much bouldering, and we were even conditioned for the Solstice Cave, which has super overhung climbs all the way to 14a. This place is a must-go for the next times we visit Hueco now! Here’s how to get to Last Chance Canyon and a little bit of beta for your trip here!

Btw, THIS is my Hueco Tanks gumby guide!

How to get to Last Chance Canyon

Just look for Last Chance Canyon, Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Google Maps will take you straight to where you start hiking.

What to climb?

We got on a 10d at the Solstice Cave to warmup both days we were there. It was a good route to get a feeling for the rock here. Then we got on Eternal Sunshine 12a, which people had recommended us, and it was AMAZING. After that, we tried Solstice 12d, which is kind of a thuggy jug-haul, and it was also an absolute blast. Next time we hope to get on the only 4-star route in the cave, a 13b on the other side.

The hiking!

Right where you park your car there’s a sign requesting climbers to pack their trash out (do it). From there, you can see the Solstice Cave all the way in the valley. Hike the path, keeping to the left of the hill you’re on if you ever stray off-path (you can actually see the path on Google Maps if you want a visual). It’s a hike down all the way, which means its VERY tiring on the way up. The way up takes about 45 minutes, but we didn’t time it.

The sleeping?

Last Chance Canyon is inside of Lincoln National Forest, which means you can camp for free. You’ll see a number of camping spots and fire circles right before you get to the trailhead down to the Solstice Cave, and you can stay for free up to 14 days. You also won’t see a lot of people, with we thought was perfect after Hueco.

The driving!

The last 4 miles of the drive here are a bit rough, with some spots where you’d want a little more clearance. Our Subaru Forester made it without a problem, and our friend’s Crosstrek also made it. A smaller vehicle? Maybe, if you’re a master of unpaved roads, but do it at your own risk. The point is, you don’t need 4-wheel drive, but you do want some good clearance.

Extra little bit of beta?

It can get windy AF here, and don’t always trust the weather forecast (it deceived us).
Its close to Sitting Bull falls, where there’s also climbing. We didn’t climb here this time around, but you could also come and just enjoy the falls and get in the water.
Take lots of water, but there’s drinking water from a faucet right before the dirt road at the Guadalupe Rangers District.
You can find all the beta for this climbing crag online, but we mostly used Mountain Project.
We only visited the Solstice Cave, but there’s one area called the Mad Cow Cave, and that’s a spot we’ll be visiting next time because it sounds awesome.

Travel Guide

Gumby to Dirtbag – Ultimate Guide to Climbing in Hueco Tanks

Posted on March 18, 2024

Climbing in Hueco Tanks State Park

We just spent three weeks at Hueco Tanks, our first time ever. And this guide is everything you need to know for your first time there – or what we learned. You could call this a FAQ, because it answers a lot of questions WE have asked, had answered, and now are giving to you. Without further ado… this is a beginner’s guide to climbing in Hueco Tanks.

The Season:

Pretty much when everywhere else is too cold to climb. The bouldering season goes from beginning of November to end of March; pretty much the whole time the Hueco Rock Ranch is open – although I wish they’d stay open a little longer.

By early March, everyone’s saying its too hot, the Rock Ranch closes, and hot blooded Colombians are just now thawing from winter, ready to boulder in the life-giving sun. It does get WAY too windy in late March, though.

I’m writing this from a library in El Paso, hiding from 40 mph winds in the desert as I write, actually.

The rock:

Is this boring stuff? But this is why Hueco Tanks is said to be the best bouldering in the world.

The rock is a weak granite that feels to me like sandstone… but the way its been shaped by erosion across eons? Oh mama! This rock makes climbing feel like it makes sense!

Where to Stay to Climb in Hueco Tanks:

Rock Ranch: We car camped for $10 per person, and it was super worth it. You can a communal area with furniture, a cooking area, a ping pong table and lots of cool people to meet. If you choose the rooms, they cost $25 for the bunks and $45 for a private room, per person per night. They have their own cool, nicer, communal area. The Ranch is open from mid-November to mid-March.
Gleatherland: This camping location is known for being quiet and peaceful, and it’s first-come first-serve for camping, at $5 per person per night. If you’re in an RV, it costs $25 per night and you need a reservation. It gets cheaper the longer you stay, and Gleatherland is open from November to April.
The Mud Hut: This location is where the party’s at. You’ll be able to meet a lot of climbers, and it’s the closest to the entrance to Hueco Tanks. It costs $5 per night per person.
El Paso: This puts you about 20-30 minutes away from Hueco Tanks, but getting an AirBnB or hotel is always an option and may give you the comfort you need for a substantial price increase.
In the State Park: They have some campsites with water and others with electricity. Staying here puts you a bit far away from civilization, and you’re trapped in the park from 6pm to 8am every day. If you have the Texas State Park Pass, it can be a good option in terms of price, but it’s a bit limiting.

Should you make reservations?

The short answer is yes.

Only 70 people can visit the park self-guided every day. That’s why there’s are two types of people entering Hueco Tanks each day. The people with reservations, who can enter the park between 8 and 10 am (or call 915-857-1135) to hold their reservation), and those who are waiting in a line of cars on the right side of the road at the Hueco Tanks entrance, if the park’s full.

Right at 8 am every day, the first 10 people waiting in line get to enter the park immediately. From 8-10 am, those in line can get in as and if people call to cancel their reservations. At 10, all unfulfilled reservations are automatically cancelled and that number of people waiting in line get to go in. After that, if you’re in line, you have to wait for people to start exiting the park.

So…

It helps having reservations, and you can make them starting 3 months before your visit by calling (512) 389-8911. Before calling, make sure you’ve made an account for yourself on Reserve America. You can call and make a reservation for multiple people, and they all have to have accounts on Reserve America.

This is especially nice if you’re going to be climbing in Hueco Tanks for a mere week and need to be in the park by 8 am every day you have planned.

We were climbing for 3 weeks, and our plans changed based on how WRECKED our bodies were and due to the weather.

We were able to climb on days we didn’t have reservations, and it was no problem at all, especially during the week. Some days, we were able to arrive at noon and get right in; other days, we waited in line for 2 hours. One day we did NOT get in (it was a Saturday).

It’ll definitely be harder to get in without a reservation during high season and the weekends, but if you get in line SUPER early, you’ll most likely make it in.

That being said, if you have a reservation and choose to forego it, CANCEL IT so that someone in line can get in quick!

Best boulders in Hueco Tanks:

This is very subjective, obviously, but my favorite climbs were: Girls of Juarez, Stegosaur, Denizen, Free Willy, and King Cobra.

Lala’s favorite boulders were: Baby Martini, Lobster Claw, Denizen, and Girls of Juarez.

Should you get the Texas State Park Pass?

Most likely, yes. It costs $70 and whoever is in the car with you will pay $0 to get into the park. All it takes is 10 days of climbing for it to be worth it for one person. With 4 people in a car? 3 days. And it lasts a full year, so you can use it next season too if you time it right!

Tour or self-guided?

Self guided means you’ll be rock climbing on North Mountain, since all others require a guide. There is more than enough climbing on North Mountain for a lifetime, and it has the best boulders. Going on tours every day could get very pricey, but it’s worth getting to know other areas. So go on some tours, but mostly self guided!

Do you need a guidebook?

Yea, it makes it so much easier to find boulders. However, if it’s too pricey, you do get signal pretty much around the entire park or at least a stone’s throw away, so you could rely on Mountain Project or a similar app.

Fun Climbing Challenges

We met some folks at the Hueco Rock Ranch who had been climbing at Hueco Tanks State Park so long, they were making up games… and man, they had the right idea. Here’s two super fun challenges!

The Tour d’ Fours: Climb these ten V4’s in a day at Hueco Tanks, in this order (this day was spectacular) – Dab, T-bone Shuffle, Lithologic, Squirm, B-Flat, Denizen, Pudgy Pussack, Double Vision, Girls of Juarez, and Bloody Flapper. The end will haunt you. A classically sand-bagged Hueco Tanks V4. Enjoy!
Nobody Runs Out of Here Alive: Start at the pond parking and run up to Nobody Here Gets Out Alive (V2). Climb it and run all the way back down to where you started. Current record (about 6:30) and rules are in a binder in the barn at Hueco Rock Ranch.

Check out our favorite crags close to Nashville!

Travel Guide

How to Get to Las Lajas Sanctuary

Posted on September 30, 2022

Is it worth your while to drive to the middle of nowhere to see an imposing architectural and historic wonder towering over a gorgeous river? The answer is absolutely yes, although I also have to say the experience isn’t quite as magical as other travel bloggers make it seem. Though Las Lajas Sanctuary is everything they say it is, you’d definitely have to squint a little to ignore some of the negative sides of it, which is relentless crowds (we went on an average Thursday morning) and the gray, disorganized mass tourism infrastructure around the cathedral. That being said, the trip is still worth your while for a foray into culture, history and nature, all at the same time! This is how to get to Las Lajas Sanctuary in Nariño, Colombia.

Want to read about one of our favorite places in Colombia? Click here!

How to get to Las Lajas Sanctuary

I’ve marked all the places and some directions in this travel guide in the map at the end of this post!

If you’re driving, look up “Las Lajas Sanctuary” Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions (there’s 1 toll between Pasto and Ipiales).

If you’ve decided to take a taxi, at what I’d consider an unnecessarily steep price, they’ll take you and some will even work as your guides for a day trip. Finding someone who will do this isn’t exactly straightforward, but if you ask around at your hotel, friends or someone trustworthy, pretty much everyone will know someone who offers this service.

If public transportation is your method of choice (probably a good idea because its inexpensive and easy), here’s what you need to know.

From Pasto:

Take a bus from the bus terminal in Pasto to Ipiales (costs $15,000 pesos, or 3.3 dollars).
Take a bus from the bus terminal in Ipiales straight to the parking lot of Las Lajas (costs $2,500 pesos, or half a dollar).

From Ecuador:

Take a bus from the Quito bus terminal (or any other) towards Tulcán, which is on the border with Colombia.
If the bus doesn’t take you straight to the border (a location called Puente Internacional de Rumichaca), take a quick taxi ride from Tulcán to the border.
Once you’ve made it into Colombia, you can either take another quick taxi ride straight to the Las Lajas Sanctuary or grab a bus to Ipiales and then grab another bus to Las Lajas Sanctuary.

Buses will take you back to Ipiales from Las Lajas Sanctuary until 9 p.m.

Watch this video!

What to do at Las Lajas Sanctuary:

Now that you know how to get to Las Lajas Sanctuary, here’s what we think is worth your while to do!

Take advantage and walk!

Since you made it all the way out here, you might as well view the cathedral from every possible vantage point! From my memory, I believe there are 5 or 6 different lookouts with amazing views of the cathedral, the waterfall (yep, there’s a waterfall) and the river below. It ends up being a lot of uphill walking, and being 2,900 meters (almost 10,000 feet) above sea level doesn’t help.

Paseo de olla.

This is an EXTREMELY Colombian tradition, where families will travel out of the city, usually on Sunday, taking a pot (olla in Spanish) full of potatoes, onion, spices, hen, plantain and other delicacies with them. Paseo de olla translates to pot trip. Families will usually cook everything at their destination. At Las Lajas Sanctuary, you can buy one of these pots full of traditional Colombian food and eat on some stumps while you look up at the giant cathedral.

Visit the inexpensive museum and the inside of the cathedral.

I’m not usually a museum guy, but since it cost $3,000 pesos (66 cents), we gave it a try and it was worth it. The inside of the cathedral is also amazing.

Ride the Cable Car.

On your way to Las Lajas Sanctuary, I recommend you tell the bus driver you’ll be getting off at the cable cars. That way, you can arrive at the Sanctuary with style, enjoying the view of the entire canyon and cathedral from WAY above. It’s also a good idea because then, when you’re ready to leave, you can walk up to the buses and taxis through a gorgeous walkway with traditional foods and souvenirs jam-packed on either side of you all the way there.

The cable car ride costs $10,000 pesos (2.2 dollars) one way and $16,000 pesos (3.5 dollars) there and back. The price goes up on weekends and holidays, to $12,000 pesos one way and $20,000 roundtrip.

Crossing the Border

Whether you’re entering or exiting Colombia, the key word is patience. You never know what you’re going to find at the border. It could be a pristine day and a quick process, or it may take you hours to get a stamp on your passport. This could be due to protests going on in Colombia or Ecuador, or because of Venezuelans migrating to-and-fro. Just wait it out and you’ll be on your way!

Click here to read a little bit about this place’s history!