Joshua Tree

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to visit one of Southern California's desert gems...Joshua Tree National Park. My friend Gene, his girlfriend Bonnie and myself made the 2.5 hour trek out to Josh for a weekend of camping and climbing. Man, the weather couldn't have been more perfect...well all except for the 20-30 mph winds we had Saturday night...wow, that was intense. The landscape out there is like nothing you have ever seen nor will you ever see anywhere else on the planet. Between the hundreds of gigantic rock formations that seem to sprout from the ground, the Joshua Trees seem to go on forever. And the climbing....boy is there ever climbing....you could easily spend a lifetime climbing at Josh and never see everything. At first we were a bit overwhelmed..."what do we do first"?? After consulting our guidebooks, we picked a popular spot and went to it. We did a lot and had a blast!! And we have a complete lack of skin to prove it. The monogranitic rock at Josh is unbelievably coarse and will easily shred your hands (or any other unfortunate body part that touches the rock...ouch!!). I'm not sure we could have lasted more than the two days we climbed. I can't wait to go back!!