We have been at Joshua Tree National Park. It's beautiful out here, but still very much a desert. The first night we arrived we had winds gusts up to 70 mph and those lasted through until two days later. To go with the wind, it was only a high in the 50's on Wednesday and Thursday. Don't worry, the weather didn't stop us from climbing.
We got on our first climb that was about 180 feet tall. Not only was it windy and cold outside, this climb was in the shade. After belaying Scott for over an hour, I finally started to climb. It ended up being a pretty fun climb, but most of all, we were excited to get down into the sun. We did quite a few climbs here, easier than harder ones. A lot of the easier climbs are pretty fun and it also let Scott take it easy on his arm. (Speaking of his arm: he's doing better, but still has symptoms and isn't back to 100%. He's taking it easier in order to save his best climbing for when we meet up with Nathan and Jimi during Thanksgiving break.) The climbing here is on a monzogranite rock and a lot of the climbing you jam your hands/feet in the cracks and work your way up. It's very different climbing, but pretty fun. The last climb we did was called Bypass Overhang. It was a two-pitch climb (where Scott climbs, then I meet him a little over half way up...and then he climbs again and then I follow again to the top). It was pretty exposed at the top, but really cool once we were on top. Yesterday our weather was beautiful, so it was a good last climb.
So here's another funny Scott story. We were sitting outside our tent one evening and we saw a mouse run/jump by. As soon as we saw it, Scott decided that he wanted to catch it. So, he spent the next 30 minutes waiting with his hand on an upside down soup bowl (it had a chip strategically placed inside of it). Finally, he did catch it! Then he cut a hole in the top of the bowl so we could see the mouse. It started to eat it's way out of the top. Challenge accomplished. (The things you do when you are camping.)We ended our time at J-Tree by going on a run this morning. The weather today is beautiful: calm, in the 60's and clear skies. What a great way to end this part of our trip. We didn't even plan on coming to J-Tree, but we were really glad that it worked out like this.
Today, Saturday, we are driving up north about 4 hours to the Needles. This is a well known climbing place near Porterville, in the Sequoia National Forest. It will be nice to be out of the desert and to be around some tall trees.
Everytime we go out hiking, climbing, running, or reading, we realize just how blessed we are to be on this trip. It's been pretty amazing and we still have four more weeks to go!
Anne and scott
1 comment:
heck yeah you had better save the best of your climbing for when I get there!! haha. I was glad to hear that I still have an honored spot in the plan. We can't wait to come meet you guys! save some good slot canyons for us also. Val has never been in one, so we should definitely hit it up. do you have cell service out there? we need to call and catch up/talk about the rendezvous in Moab. Who is excited about Thanksgiving dinner in Luby's?!?
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