Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25256
OUTFITTERS ROCK-ABOUT, USA Rock-About owners Kirk Holladay and Rick Watson, based in Texas, have been coming to the Potrero since 1992, and guiding there since 1995. (Kirk has some first ascents.) They will serve you up a true Texas experience - dinners of buckshot and chili-smothered BBQ dove (upon request) and accommodations in a large rental home near the campgrounds and the canyon. They make fre- quent trips to the Potrero each year, are well connected with the climbing com- munity there, and can accommodate hot spring and rock art tours as well. Customized trips: $300 per day (not including food); year-round; www.rock-about.com.info@rock-about.com. 512-415-0804 MOONEY MOUNTAIN GUIDES, USA Art Mooney, based in New Hampshire, has been guiding since 1978 and is one of few internationally certified guides in the US. He is just starting to take peo- ple down to the Potrero, but you can be confident you'll have a safe experience. 7 days; $2350 (1:1 client to guide ratio), $1250 (2:1 client to guide ratio); October-December; www.mooneymountainguides.com. art@mooneymountainguides.com 603-744-5853 Check out 9 other climbing destinations reviewed at blue.com/trips including bouldering in Fountainbleau, France, rock climbing at Phra Nang Krabi Thailand, mountaineering on Nepal's Imja Tse, Peru's Cordillera Huayhuash, and more! to fellow campers over dinner and you'll find the good routes. Go with a guide if you want a quicker introduction. Unless you like the Mardi Gras-type scene and have always wantedto ride a mechanical bull as hundreds of climbers and drunks cheer you on, avoid Potrero during New Year's. More than 200 peo- ple crowd the area over the holiday. Most clear out a few days later returning campgrounds, with kitchens and communal areas, to nor- mal. Winter months see temperatures in the 60S and 70S during the day, and chilly nights. Although summer months are hot, in the 90S and up, but if you can stand the heat, you'll have routes to yourself. Summer is when the Potrero, a national park, attracts local vacation- ers, and the climbers' campgrounds become family campgrounds. Climbers talk about the Potrero as if they are talking about a loved one. Like any good climbing destination, it is its own little cosmos. The air in the canyon seems different; the water that flows to the campgrounds comes from a spring in the canyon and you can drink the water right out of the tap (unheard of for most Mexican towns); roosters crow in the middle of the night; and the canyon and piercing stars seem to watch over you as you sleep and dream about endless climbing in the sun ... hasta manana.-Tasha Eichenseher