U.S. National Parks
Overview/Approach
Mounds is a relatively small climbing destination at Joshua Tree located between Echo Rock and Bighorn Pass. The more common objectives in this area center around features known as Snickers and Little Rock Candy Mountain. However, I found two worthy objectives among Mounds’ four published routes in Miramontes’ guide book: Deep Throat (5.9) and Eff Eight (5.8). In my opinion, Deep Throat is one of the more interesting climbs in all of Joshua Tree. Deep Throat was established by John Bachar in 1975 and involves burrowing through a perfectly round hole in the granite to reach a challenging off-width section. This pitch is short but involves a few spectacular moves. Eff Eight is perhaps the best warm up route for this entire “candy bar” area in that it is the first climb you reach beyond Echo Rock, dead center north from the Echo Rock trail head.
Park at the paved parking area at the Echo Rock trail head. Head north on a well marked trail circumventing Pope’s Crack to the right. Eff Eight is on a singular mound of granite straight north. The other three routes are accessed by continuing northeast from Eff Eight as you would do on approach for the Chair feature. Cut back west and scramble up the granite slabs to the base of a short wall with an obvious window to the right of a wide crack (photo).
Route Description(s)
Routes Listed Left to Right as you Face the Mounds
External Links
Images
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |