Our friends Wes and Ann joined us in Red Rocks. Kyle and I took them out to climb Ragged Edges and Chicken Interruptus, two very fun climbs in the Willow Springs area. It was so fun to catch up with them after meeting them after a hail storm in the Black Hills of SD back in September. As there was a decent amount of rain in the forecast, and given the nature of sandstone, not much climbing to be had in the near future. Therefore, we decided to take the drive to California. Joshua Tree National Park here we come!
Joshua Tree National Park
When we finally arrived at the Hidden Valley campground in JTree, it was packed! Kyle and I slowly made our way around the loops looking for an open site and we found one! Just big enough for two vans. We both pulled in, leveled out and grabbed the crash pads. Of course there was a boulder right at our campsite. This wasn’t just any boulder either, it was the classic test piece for the area ‘Stem Gem’. Kyle and Wes had fun trying the problem that evening.
It was very windy at the park. Most days I was in wool long underwear and some sort of windbreaker. For the evenings I was thankful to have my winter jacket stored in the van (despite leaving MN In the heat of the summer). We explored the park with Wes and Ann, checking out new climbs, visiting boulders and getting used to granite.
Despite the wind, we found some crags to climb in the sun and enjoyed quite a few cloudless blue sky days. We dubbed this climb “Sketchy McGavern” for the tenuous runout nature. Kyle of course made it look easy somehow.
The sky was so blue it created a wonderful contrast to the rock formation Kyle was climbing on. He danced up this route, it looks like he is standing on nothing!
Christmas
We spent Christmas in JTree. Wes and Ann had been to town earlier in the week and bought us chocolate for a present, it was delicious! Kyle mixed up a batch of margaritas to go with Ann’s guacamole; we had a wonderful evening in the van chatting, sipping and dipping. It was nice to share a holiday with new friends. It’s not often you find people you have an instant connection with upon meeting them.
As there is limited space in the van, our holiday décor is limited. Besides our LED lights that we set to red and green, we only had one ornament. I crocheted two stockings for us to make it feel more festive, and we received a few Christmas Cards from home. I called this our ‘Christmas Corner’.
As we were walking through the main parking lot one day, we recognized a green van with MN plates. We couldn’t believe it but our friends Jake and Kat from MN were out in JTree! We found out they had been in Vegas for about the same time we had been; somehow, our paths had never crossed. Additionally, some more MN friends were flying in for a week/long weekend. Kyle and I were pleasantly surprised to see more familiar faces. We bouldered together at the cave boulder that evening, and then again the next morning. We shared campsites, caught up and climbed together throughout their time on vacation.
For more photos of Joshua Tree National Park, be sure to check out: Joshua Tree Rock Climbing