Joshua Tree

We finally made it to Joshua Tree NP Sunday morning after visiting Tandi's mom's house outside LA. Her mom lives closer to the park than D&T, and since the campgrounds were full for the weekend, we wanted to get an "early" start on Sunday morning to beat the heat of the desert and climb before noon. I say "early" because after dilly-dallying and picking up firewood and gas etc, we didn't leave all that early. Nonetheless we got to the park around 10am and went to a rock formation that had lots of moderates in my guidebook.

Hello, my name is Keith and I will be your guide today. We will be using the Trad guide to Joshua Tree as our text.

Our routes had a pretty significant approach for Joshua Tree, as you actually had to scramble for 30 minutes over boulders before you get to the climbs. Typically not a bad approach, but Eve has been feeling sick the last few days, and I should have picked one of the many routes that starts 15 feet from the car.

Looking for a route

We climbed two routes at Upper Small Wall: Double Dog Leg (5.7) and Beck's Bet (5.8). I lead DDL and Tandi, David and Eve top roped it.

Racking up for Double Dog Leg and reading some beta.

David on Double Dog Leg

This combined with the approach pretty much put Eve out of commission for the day. She was pretty bold to even go with us, since she was feeling so tired. She hung out in the shade for the rest of the day.

Eve chilling in the shade.

Desert Bloom

Beck's Bet was really fun, lots of good jamming. Tandi top roped Beck's Bet and despite having doubts about 'all of this jamming' she cruised it mostly, only getting stuck at the crux where jamming is manditory.

Me on Beck's Bet

Tandi on Beck's

The rock here is very similar to Elephant Rocks in Missouri, very crystalline granite. I would say that JTree has slightly less rough texture, just enough for good purchase without tearing apart your hands and shoes. Although its still pretty rough, after all they make 'Joshua Tree Climbing Salve' for a reason.

Cool lizard with blue neck and belly makes a mating call on the rock. You can see that the texture is much like E-rocks.

Eve resting on the horizon.

After these two climbs we headed off to find a campsite in the park, and lucked out at finding a spot at Hidden Valley, where you are surrounded by routes within very short walking distance. I think this is why JTree is so popular for climbers, not because the routes are so awesome, in fact I would say they are just good, but that climbers are lazy and like to just mozy over to a climb that is only steps away from there sleeping pad/car. I have to admit it makes climbing lots of routes very easy, and with a fast partner you could dispatch >10 trad routes a day so long as you can handle the mid-day sun.

Hanging out in the shade.

We, on the other hand, chilled out under my tarp until near dusk and then mozied over to Toe Jam (5.7). A very sand-bagged 5.7 I would say! I had David lead belay for me, which he had never done before, so I chose an easy grade that I could cruise. This route had a very tricky final move on it, requiring a two finger-finger jam and some faith in smearing. And maybe a toe jam, ergo it's name.

David climbs Toe Jam as I belay from the top, and Tandi looks on from the ground.

When Tandi climbed this route, she discovered a Rose Boa snake resting inside the crack. David and I totally missed this discovery, but Tandi was very excited about it. After taking to get a better look, she got back on the route and climbed right past it. We finished the route just as it got dark. Eve skipped this one and took pictures of us.

Tandi climbs Toe Jam. This photo was taken just before the snake discovery.

We walked back to the campsite and threw our potato and sausage foil packets on the grill for dinner. Oh, and had some nice cold beer as well.

Campfire at Hidden Valley Campground.

Day 2 at Joshua Tree will be written by Eve!