Joshua Tree--President's Day weekend, February 2000
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Long weekends are good but LONG long weekends are even better, and, well, it's
such a long drive to J Tree that you have to make it worth it right? Dorothy
picked me up on Thursday morning as I finished frantically packing, we swung
by Magdalen's and 'fore overly long we were zipping south on 5. Zip zip zip
zipa-zipa-zipa hmmm that doesn't sound good let's stop and see what's up...
two hours later the shredding tyre was gone and we sped on on two new tyres
and with a real spare for the surprisingly light damage of $90. Richard, Jeremy
and Josie joined us at Jumbo Rock campground shortly after we crawled into
bed and after a surprisingly cold night we rose the greet the day and go in
search of rock to climb--an easy task given the abundance of browny-yellow
granite, yet a daunting one faced with a two inch thick guidebook filled
with thousands of routes...The Real Hidden Valley it was. First off I wanted 
to lead Sail Away, 5.8 and four stars, a lovely route but a little chilly just
then, M's fingers froze but putting gloves on didn't make it any easier to 
climb, and by the time M and D had joined me on top of the Hidden Tower I was
really starting to want my warm clothes at the base...Lunch back with J, J and
R then I wanted to see if I could lay a ghost to rest by leading Captain 
Kronos, the climb I'd backed off leading over two years ago, allegedly 5.7
but regraded 5.9 in later guidebooks. Alas, the ghost still walks...a second
backoff, rather more precipitous than the first, meant the day's remaining
climbing time was lost to gear recovery. Madeleine, Alan and Steve J arrived
during the night and Saturday morning Geology Tour Road was chosen as our
destination. Scrambles over large talus to the bases of routes made it perhaps
not the best choice of venue, and not everyone had the day they were hoping
for. I struggled up Teenage Enema (5.9), did a better job on Gemstoner (5.10a)
--a "move slowly and hope the gods don't notice you're doing something 
foolish" slab/face climb--and the adjacent arete (5.8), and finished up the
day on the beautiful Lichlinski's Cracks (5.9). Coming to the desert for 
President's Day we weren't expecting rain, but alas the drought--they'd only
had 2/10 of an inch since September--was forecast to break that night. Waking
without hearing rain I thought "Maybe it won't come..."...minutes later
BOOMRUMBLECRASHBOOMBANG thunder shook us, sounding incredibly close. Flashes
ranging from 1 to 3k away lit the night as the rain arrived, dashing my 
hopes...Emerging from our tents on the morn we found hail on the ground. 
Patchy weather cleared enough in the afternoon for us to try climbing.
Negotiating the narrow slot canyon of Conan's Corridor we found ourselves
in a neat little spot and I pleasantly surprised myself by inching my way
jamming and stemming to the top of Colorado Crack (5.9). The patchy weather
seemed set to continue though, and Monday morn we decided to cut our losses
and head home that day instead of Tues. as planned.


Picture: a large ark-like boat propped up on yellow sand, blue sky behind.
A bearded man in a grey robe stands in the doorway, hands on hips, leaning 
forward, looking at a man wearing a blue, red and white flotation ring with a 
horses head, who is standing at the base of the gangway.