Trip planning. Destination ideas.

I'm trying to get together a trip for this summer. I've always wanted to hangout in the desert and check out some lack of foliage and the red rock. Where are some cool places to go with some good climbing and hiking?

You are going to need to be WAY more specific than that if you want some helpful suggestions. A few questions to address:

-How much time do you have and during what month(s)?

-Preferred region (western US, eastern US, big international trip, etc...)

-Preferred styles of climbing and difficulty level (very different destinations come to mind for 5.8 trad versus 5.12 sport)

-Traveling solo or with a partner?

looking at a week or week and a halfish. no idea what month. probably june or july.
3 people hopefully.
5.8-5.12 sport and any type of climbing is fine with me.

When would you suggest? Obviously I live no where near the desert so i would have no idea.

June or July ... I'll take a stab: City of Rocks, ID, great place for both sport & gear routes at that time of year. No red rocks tho...

Yeah I know july would be terrible but its practically my only option since i'm in college and all that. I'll check it.

Fall and spring is time for the desert (Indian Creek, Red Rocks, Zion, etc). If you can get time over spring break, go to the desert.

For the summer, though, you want to go to the mountains or to the Pacific Northwest. For sport climbing in the summer, think Tensleep, Wild Iris, Maple Canyon, Rifle, Canmore, or various crags in the NW. For trad and alpine climbing, there are even more options. Squamish, Tuolomne, RMNP, Independence Pass, Index, High Sierra, the Needles (either one...SD or CA), Tahoe (esp. Lovers Leap), Idyllwild, Tetons, Wind Rivers, Vedauwoo, etc. etc.

The desert is fantastic, and and you must make a trip to many crags there. It is also worth it, though, to wait until you can do the trip right; this means in the proper season. If you have the summer free, then go to a summer crag high in the mountains; these are spectacular too.

If you MUST see some desert, there are also some good summer crags that are in mountains that happen to be adjacent to the desert; this gives you the best of both worlds. These go into the "islands in the sky" category; think pine tree oases at 8000+ feet surrounded by burning hot desert. Some of these can actually have excellent summer temps.

Obvious choices would be

Mt Charleston (sport-mostly hard, steep, pocketed) (right above Vegas/Red Rocks)

Mt. Lemmon (sport and trad) (right above Tucson)

Mill Creek (sport, thin a techy) (above Moab) Note: no guidebook; kind of under-the-radar

Various high-altitude crags around Bishop including Pine Creek, Rock Creek, Cardinal pinnacle, Mammoth area crags, and everything in the high Sierra. These are all on granite, mix of sport and trad.

Idyllwild area (Tahquitz (trad), Black Mountain (boulders), etc...near Palm Springs and J-Tree)

Leavenworth, Wa (near to eastern Washington Desert

These places would let you spend some rest days wandering around in the desert, but then let you flee into the very-nearby mountains to have some decent climbing temps. All are good in the summer

Yeah hanging out in the desert is a big part of the trip for me. I wish it were much closer like rrg or nrg. East coast problems. Thanks for the help everyone!

The Sierra eastside is maybe your best bet. You probably won't want to do much climbing in the desert, because it will be quite hot by June. But you can climb up in the foothills during the day and then drive back down to the desert to enjoy the free camping and sunsets. The high desert of the Owen's Valley isn't quite as alien looking as the canyonlands of Utah or the cactus gardens of Arizona, but it's still quite beautiful.

Here's a couple photos to give you an idea of the scenery.