Cloak and Dagger

Matt had never been to the Black Canyon before so we decided to get on a route that wasn't heinous. Meaning a route with minimal loose rock, thorny bushes, and poison ivy.  I personally am not a fan of repeating routes.  There is just not enough time in life to screw around on a route you have already done. I'd rather stay home and watch a movie. A movie that I've never seen before obviously.  We settled on a route called 'Cloak and Dagger.'

Bill was in the area so he grabbed us a campsite and waited around to camp with us.  Between the road over Red Mountain pass being closed for most of the day, and me needing to do a bunch of errands we didn't get in till late.  

Hiking past minimal poison ivy got us to the base of the scrambling. We were able to solo the first pitch which was more like 'don't screw up' 4th class than the 5.6 listed on the topo.  After arriving at the base of pitch 2 I took off the pack and discovered that Bill had lovingly placed a fist sized rock in my pack. Luckily I found it before we started the real climbing.

The climbing was excellent. Just to the left of 'Cloak and Dagger' are two high quality classic routes.  'Cloak and Dagger' is on par.

We were in the shade until we toped out which was nice because it was pretty warm out.  I'm not sure if Matt is hooked on 'The Black' yet, but I know he wants to go back. 

All in all a great day out with a good guy!