Joshua Tree
After our less than thrilling day spent sport climbing at Big Rock, we decided to head out for an unscheduled stop at Joshua Tree National Park. It turned out to be just what we needed. Great weather, great climbing, and gorgeous camping. We stayed at Hidden Valley Campground Oct 5-8, amidst the huge rocks, cacti, and howling coyotes. Chris even managed to toprope a gnarly overhanging crack about 5 ft from our tent!

Our first day in J-Tree we spent at the Atlantis Wall, over in the Lost Horse area. Chris and I took turns leading a variety of 5.5-5.8 single pitch trad climbs. A couple of climbers from Oregon had rigged a nearby rappell, so that saved us tons of time not having to do the walk offs. I thought it was pretty funny when I told them we were from the Bay Area and they responded: "Wow, you must get out here all the time!" Um no, J-Tree is 7 hours from our house, pal. Try Lake Tahoe.... Later that day we went over to Hemingway Buttress and climbed "White Lightning," a 'classic' 5.7- I found the small off-width roof section to be super hard!

We went through an awesome cactus garden in the southern part of the park. It had tons of Teddy Bear Cholla and Silver Cholla. In that same area, two different deserts meet- the Mojave and the Colorado- each marked by different geology, landscape, and plant life. Perhaps it comes from growing up in the Midwest, and not being familiar with the area, but the desert landscape is always incredibly fascinating to me.