Joshua Tree
We got to Joshua Tree around 2pm on the Saturday before new year’s. When we checked into the ranger station we found out all the campsites were full. I wanted to go set up camp in the BLM land outside of the park but Morgan said he had been there before and we would find a site even if the ranger station said they were full. So we drove in the east entrance of the parks and headed toward Jumbo Rocks (the biggest campsite). When we got there, the sign was up saying the campground was full. Leah, Nikki, and I decided to go on a walk to skull rock and Morgan went to check the campground. We were so convinced he wasn’t going to find anything, but before we could even walk away from the car- Morgan and Rusty come walking up saying they found a campsite! I couldn’t believe it.
We ended up getting site 119. Someone had been there previously but had obviously left. They had paid for two days but had no trace at the campsite and had turned their ticket around. The campers next to us said they hadn’t seen anyone there all day. We paid for another ticket and set up camp. We all went to skull rock, which was a pretty lame hike. The skull at the end sort of looked like a gorilla skull. I was too worried the other people were going to come back and take our site so I couldn’t even enjoy it.
When we made it back to camp, it was dark and nobody had returned to claim our site. Camp 119 has huge boulders on either side of it and flat spots at the top and bottom of the rock channel. We set up a tent at the top and two at the bottom. After, we got the fire going and made dinner. We did some star gazing using Leah’s glow in the dark star chart and danced around the fire. Then we went to bed. That’s when the wind started.
So the wind started off pretty strong, our tent (two people and a dog) was getting hit pretty hard, but we figured it would die down soon. It didn’t. We were sort of in the crossroads of two wind channels. The tent was getting hit from all sides and the sides were hitting us as we tried to sleep. We threw everything heavy we had into the corners. I ended up getting up to stake the tent down and put up the rainfly. I thought if I put on the rainfly maybe the wind would just blow over the tent. In hindsight, I was probably delusional from lack of sleep. That stopped the sides from hitting us, but then the wind started pushing down on the tent and then jerking the whole thing up.
Morgan called the tent quits around 3-4 am and went to sleep in the car. I stayed in the tent not sleeping. After an hour I took off the rainfly and collapsed the tent and crawled back in. This was MUCH better. I could actually sleep and not lift into the sky in the tent flapping like a thousand birds.
When the sun came up, everyone crawled out and it was determined that we had gotten about 20 minutes of sleep each. We made breakfast in the wind, but it seemed like it was getting stronger. Eventually, we called it quits and threw everything into the car. Our plan was to head over to the other campsites and try to snag a less windy site.
After circling through Hidden Valley and Ryan, we managed to find less wind but no open sites. With heavy hearts we went back to Jumbo Rocks. We chose what we determined to be the most sheltered site and set up our tents in some bushes while the rest of our crew drove out to the road to tell our incoming friends where the campsite was.
Our first hike of the day was Ryan Mountain. The sign at the front said climbing the mountain would “reaffirm our lives”. Once we got near the top of the mountain it became clear to us that the wind gods who had tormented us all night lived at the top of this very mountain!
On a alter of rocks at the very tip of the mountain, Leah shouted to the wind gods that we knew they were powerful and had suffered enough. She was immediately smited by a forceful gust of wind.
“Please grant us a peaceful night!!”, we begged
The wind gods answered our pleas. When we got back to the campsite we were greeted by our friends (who had already started with wine and cheese)! Patrick and AJ made us an awesome chicken curry with tons of veggies. A good night was had by all. Leah had night vision goggles (her eyes). Rusty was running around being an adventure dog with his light up collar. We made a huge fire and then ran out of wood and had to go to bed. The night was really peaceful.
We climbed at Cap Rock (day 1) and Real Hidden Valley (day 2).
Day 1:
Ten Gallon v0: v0?!?!?! Where are the holds?!
South Corner v0: ^
Short Crack v0: by the time you get to the challenging part of the climb, you’re so high up it’s scary to try to go further
Toe Traverse on 4 Corners Boulder: So fun. It looks like you shouldn’t be able to stand on the wall and traverse with only your feet- but you can!
Small World v0: did the beginning of this climb over and over and couldn’t get the pull at the end. Did just the end and did the pull! Ecstatic! Tried to do the full thing and failure. Must try this again next time
Day 2:
Soft Pretzel v2: too hard, and no flat landing.
Night Crawler v0: like the toe traverse from the day before, but the tricky part was going over the cactus without falling
The Sarsen Stone v0: really fun until you get up high and realize how far it is to the crash pad. Scary!
Five Finger Traverse v0+: really big crack, pretty cool but hands hurt so much by this point it was hard to keep them on the rock. Bf managed to do the full traverse though!