Below are notes you may want to save on your phone for easy reference while you’re climbing. The more detailed version that you may want to read beforehand can be found here: https://rajahamid.com/journal/2020/12/4/climbing-and-rappelling-cat-in-the-hat-red-rock

APPROACH: 1.45mi, 40min

- Use Gaia GPX route. follow the main trail basically. Aim for the left side of Mescalito

- After the main trail, there is a big triangle laid out with rocks—you can't miss it

- The first pitch faces SW and is in the shade in early morning, it cannot be seen from the parking lot.

- start below an obvious left-slanting crack

Pitch 1 & 2: 150ft, 5.5 — long pitch following the crack

- Climb the left-slanting crack and skip the 2-bolt anchor belay (later for rappel)

- Continue up the left-slanting fist crack

- The next bolt anchor (later for rappel) is off to the RIGHT on a massive, sloping ledge which is easy to miss. Don't get sucked left into a gully (if so, belay from gear)

Scramble

- 3rd class wander to the right and up onto a huge terrace to the highest point on the ledge. First move is the most committing.

Pitch 3: 50-70ft, 5.5 — hard first move, aim for tree

- Boulder up a short, black wall to gain a ledge

- From the left end of the ledge, pull over a small overhang into a left-facing corner

- Aim for a tree anchor (later for rappel) on a ledge at the top of a gully. SUGGESTED making a gear anchor instead at the base of the crack that marks the first really exposed part of the next pitch.

Pitch 4: 120-150ft, 5.6 — steep crack to slung block

- Climb a thin crack in a black, steep face to the left of a small corner. Don’t go right to the edge of the roof.

- Traverse left well below that small, white roof to reach a finger crack.

- Follow this all the way up to a ledge to a slung block (later for rappel)

Pitch 5: 50ft, 5.3 — short traverse right

- Above you are bolts, this is the 10d direct variation. Avoid!

- Step down and traverse right around a corner. The traverse is barely 5th class if done low (properly).

- Arrive to a ledge at the base of a varnished black wall split by a crack

- Make a gear anchor

Pitch 6 :100-110ft, 5.7/5.6 — up the crack to a bolt and then runout

- Climb the crack

- Angle rightwards to a bolt (crux). Two tricky slab moves that are protected by a bolt 5 feet below

- Head up a face (somewhat runout) to a 2 bolt belay

RAPPEL — single 70m rope in 5 rappels. saddlebags + knots at the end will save you

R1: from the top of pitch 6 (top of the route) to the top of pitch 4 (slung boulder) left us standing on the boulder just to the climber's right of the slung boulder.

R2: The second rappel from there to the top of pitch 3 (tree anchor) left us standing on the ledge at the base of pitch 4 with a very short (10 yards) easy unroped downclimb to the tree anchor.

R3: The third rappel got us all the way to the top of pitch 2 (bolted anchor at the big ledge) without having to even downclimb the short scramble.

R4: The rope from there didn't reach all the way to the ground, so we rapped to the bolted anchor at the top of pitch 1

R5: From the top of P1, we rappelled to the ground.