Sailing Tarka: A week in Joshua Tree

We had waited until the last minute to leave Las Vegas and so we pushed for Joshua Tree National Park. It was our second time there, the first being around three years ago - Jon's first outdoor climbing experience. How perfect since Chris (Jon's brother) would be joining us there for his first real outdoor climbing experience as well.

Chris's day had gone something like this: wake up with the sun, drive to the Twin Cities, wait at the airport, fly to San Diego, take a taxi to the bus station, wait at the bus station, watch the sun go down, take a bus to Riverside, wait at the bus station, take a bus to Palm Springs, then hop in our truck for the last 60 miles to the park. We feel the rewards of an experience are directly related to the work you put in and so he must have felt pretty rewarded.

After picking Chris up in Palm Springs, we arrived to our campsite in Hidden Valley Campground late, but with dinner already served (thank you Subway) and the tent already pitched (Jon and I treat our guests with first class service) the dark was no problem.

The day before we had met 'the campground social butterfly' Jorge. He was what everyone else in the campground had in common and, luckily for us, he liked to share campsites to reduce costs and became our camp-mate.

Over the next six days (including one rest day) we climbed almost all of the same climbs Jon and I had done three years before. The learning curve on a multi day trip to somewhere like Joshua Tree is off the charts. There was nothing Christopher couldn't work his way up and by day four his finger tips were polished and his technique had improved so much that instead of taking falls he was finding good rest spots, studying the moves and moving on with confidence.

His willingness to learn and lack of arrogance made him a perfect student. In his five days of climbing he: climbed a 5.8 clean (no falls); climbed a 5.10, cleaned the anchor, and rappelled down; practiced placing gear and building an anchor; and sport lead a 5.6. Yeah- I know right. Let's just say people were impressed.

We spent most of our nights tagging along with Jorge and crashing other peoples' crackling fires. With chilly nights and wood hard to come by, friends were easy to make. Whoever had the fire was your friend. The climbing and atmosphere in Hidden Valley Campground is unmatched. But alas, the seventh day came.

Jon had pre-booked us two nights at a campsite on the beach near San Diego to make the drive to the airport less daunting. The ocean was beautiful and peaceful and was the perfect wind down to Chris's visit. Jon and I got the itch to try surfing and are now searching for the perfect waves... and weather.