Joshua Tree National Park

Friday, 27.Oktober

S’Mores and where is Orange County?

• We arrive at the Black Rock campsite not quite on time. Matthäus throws me out of the car along with all my climbing and camping equipment and drives on to his own campsite.
• He sets up his tent there in the dark and admires the beautiful sky full of stars- only briefly though before falling asleep.
• In the meantime, we get together as a group – we are about 20 women plus 4 guides (female, of course), because I have booked a women-only climbing weekend. Since Matthäus doesn’t climb, I figured this could be fun.
• First of all, we all gather around the fire, which is thankfully already blazing brightly. Thankfully since temperatures drop significantly at night – which is not surprising considering that Joshua Tree National Park is spread over two deserts (the Mojave Desert in the north and the Colorado Desert in the south).

• To my surprise, I need all my warm layers at the same time – I did not expect that.
• We chat a bit at first, and I strike up a conversation with a woman who tells me she’s from Orange County – whereupon I make a fundamental faux pas and ask: “Ah, where precisely is that? In California?” Her jaw drops and she replies: “THE Orange County? Close to LA? You don’t know it?!” Hence all attempts of starting a conversation end at this point and unfortunately we can’t become friends anymore this weekend.
• Not at all disheartened after this start, I instead start a conversation with the woman on the other side of me, who just laughs at my faux pas and comments: “Well, yes, those people from Orange County…” She is from San Diego herself, which sounds like a very nice city.
• We officially start with a round of introductions, where everyone says their name, where they’re from, what their climbing experience is like and is supposed to name the craziest thing they’ve eaten this week.
• This being the USA, the craziest thing people have eaten is really crazy for most people. However, after the Texas State Fair I am no longer at all surprised at what people here consider a meal or what compositions of ingredients they mix together to create their dinner (although porridge with parmesan sounds like an insult to Scots AND Italians at the same time…). What I am a little surprised about is a woman who says that the craziest thing she has eaten this week is spaghetti with Nutella and cheese, although she doesn’t think it’s that crazy, as she eats it regularly as “comfort food”.
• Speaking of crazy food: I later learn how to make s’mores properly – s’mores are marshmallows melted over a fire and eaten between two cookie halves with a piece of chocolate.
• It sounds great (and it is), so I willingly learn the tips and tricks on how to get the best result in terms of taste. There seems to be a debate of faith about whether you should roast marshmallows slowly over the fire or flambé them, i.e. make them burn briefly before extinguishing them and then crushing them between the cookies.

• Everyone agrees though that the chocolate also needs to be melted next to the fire – and I agree.
• Fun fact: International S’Mores Day takes place every year on August 10th. 🙂
• So soon after we are all be sitting next to the fire with a stick and marshmallows, chatting and eating S’Mores – under a beautiful starry sky with an occasional occurance of shooting stars – a great start to this weekend!

Saturday, 28.10.

Climbing in Joshua Tree

• Today we head off to our first climbing spot – and as it gets hot in the desert during the day, we start at sunrise.
• After a quick breakfast, we drive into the national park and admire the many Joshua Trees that can be seen everywhere.
  

• We reach the supposed climbing spot that our guide leads us to before we realize that she has arranged another one with our second guide Shannon, where Shannon has already set up two ropes for toproping.
• After a short period of confusion, we drive a little further into the park, where we soon find the right climbing spot and Shannon.
• We set up our base camp (i.e. we drop all our bags and stuff in a pile under a tree that hopefully provides shade) and start with the obligatory safety and safe climbing introduction.

• As we are the advanced group, the whole thing goes quickly and it doesn’t take long before we are finally climbing on the beautiful smooth and picturesque looking rock faces.
• The rock also takes some getting used to, but reminds me a bit of the sandstone in Fontainebleau – the footholds are almost non-existent and you just have to trust your shoes and “footholds”.
  

• After a while, we all get a bit of a feel for it and move quickly up the climbing routes – it’s great fun!
• The sun gradually intensifies and soon we are seeking the pleasant coolness of the little shade there is here.
• The only thing missing is a hammock, but the spirit here seems more American: as my lunch break drags on and I’m still enjoying the shade and the pleasant rock I’ve found, a fellow climber asks me impatiently if I don’t want to climb again – I decline with thanks, but offer to belay her.

• In general, many treat it more like a competition than a relaxed climbing vacation.
• After another intense climbing session, we make our way back and chill out by the fire at the campsite, enjoy the setting sun and have a chat.
• Thanks to the exercise during the day and the blistering sun, we are all a bit exhausted and go to bed at 9/10am – after all, we want to get an early start tomorrow.
• It gets really cold during the night, but my sleeping bag isn’t made for that, so I’m soon wearing all the layers of clothing I have with me.

And meanwhile – Matthäus’ Day

• In the Colorado Desert in the south, Matthäus has picked out a hike that he is tackling today.
• It starts at an oasis and leads to another oasis.

• On his way he sees a hummingbird, which he actually manages to get a good photo of.

• After this first hike, he drives up a hill from where you have a 360-degree all-round view.

• And finish off with a short classic national park hike.

• For the sunset, he drives to a sunset spot, which turns out to be very beautiful (at least that’s what the photos look like).

• In the evening, he changes campsite, as all the campsites in the park were already fully booked from Saturday to Sunday, and this time spends the night with his tent at an RV campsite – i.e. full of camper vans.

• There he strikes up a conversation with a couple with whom he barbecues, drinks beer and chats.

Sunday, 29.10.

Another climbing day and back to Barstow

• In the morning we pack up our things, as we are leaving the campsite today, and load them into the cars.
• Then we set off again, this time to another climbing crag with lots of cracks, as today is our crack project day.

• We learn a few crack climbing basics from Shannon and are allowed to borrow her crack gloves to try it ourselves – it’s exhausting, but also great fun.
• All parts of the body can and must be used to achieve maximum friction and soon we are all scraped up in all possible and impossible places.

• As we are all a bit more tired today than yesterday and the sun is beating down even more mercilessly, we take a break from climbing for a session in which we learn how to build and dismantle anchors.
• Anchor is the name given to the safety device at the top, i.e. at the very top of a climbing route, to which you attach a rope for toproping, for example, or to which you abseil – this must of course be better secured than the intermediate safety devices and, above all, you have to be able to put up and take down anchors hanging in the rock, which is an art in itself and which you should ideally be able to do in your sleep so that nothing really goes wrong.
• Today’s climbing day is also a bit shorter, as we then set off back to the campsite, where we pack up the last of our things, take down the tents and people make their way home again.
  

• Matthäus is a little late because he slightly underestimated the length of his hike, but finally he arrives and together we drive to the point from where we start our last stretch of Route 66 tomorrow: back to Barstow.

Meanwhile Matthäus’ Day:

• Matthäus is going on a long hike (near our climbing spot today as it turns out): through the Mojave Desert with Joshua Trees, to an oasis with deciduous trees, a descent over rocks and then through a dry river bed, the hike leads to our climbing spot today on the other side and then back again. Thanks to the differences in altitude, you can see very different landscapes again.