Exit Joshua Tree (for now)

I’m one month into the trip and off today for Utah and will leave there for Estes Park for the weekend of March 10, where I’ll attend the wedding of a couple of Caltech friends. Leaving Joshua Tree was a sentimental occasion for me; I started climbing here, and this was the first major stop on this trip. I took a quick detour this morning to look at the first pitch of rock I ever climbed (pictures to be posted in the near future). I didn’t have an opportunity to lead it this trip, but I would like to do so next time I return to the park. Over the last couple of weeks the park has become home, a safe place that I could grow as a climber and learned a great deal about being an itinerant climber: climbing when I have a partner and resting when I don’t; tricks for approaching climbing partners in a way that improves the chances they will say yes (offering a beer first often helps); sitting around camp or going for a hike during the quiet times; finding free stuff and free food whenever possible. A couple of weeks ago, I was worried this trip might not work out; now, I’m looking forward to the next destination. For a goodbye gift, a roadrunner crossed the road in front of my car as I exited the park; I had never seen a roadrunner here before, but it was quite a treat. If Angela or Justin want, I would be happy to return.

The climbing out here the last couple of weeks has been fantastic. I haven’t always had a partner when desired, but more often than not something has worked out. Last weekend, Sean showed up from LA and his partner bailed, so we climbed all weekend, one day around camp and the other in the Joshua Tree backcountry. This week, I traded Luke days, belaying him on a day when he wanted to climb 10 5.10s, in exchange for his belaying me on Thursday. And Saturday Stewart just wanted to get out so we went to the warmer Indian Cove area and traded belays (after Kevin just showed up and wanted to climb, then bailed twenty minutes later). Yesterday we bouldered in the afternoon after feasting on the bounty left by a group that leads trips for kids and had way too much food.

Many of the memorable parts of the last two weeks include: seeing a bobcat (no picture, unfortunately), stabbing my thigh with a cholla cactus, the arrival of the blue jays in Josh, helping Luke complete his 10 10s goal, leading my first Joshua Tree 5.8, and spending a morning relaxing at the hot springs. Writing out a report similar to the last few would take a bit too long, so I’ll just whet your appetite with those flavor bursts. I wanted to add some thoughts I’ve been working on about anticipation to this post, but I haven’t been able to tie them together yet; I’ll try to post those sometime later this week or early next. In the meantime, enjoy a few more photos. Also check out Alistair's Joshua Tree photos (click on Joshua Tree 1-4) for some more professional work by someone I met out here.

Mental Physics, a splitter 5.7+ in the Joshua Tree "backcountry"

The moon nearing full in Joshua Tree

The blue jays started showing up this week, and were interested in Stewart's pot

Another beautiful Josh day