March 26, 2009

Joshua Tree National Park

Again, I'm playing catch-up! We boon-docked at Joshua Tree, so when one has no electricity, or phone service for that matter, blogging just goes down to the bottom of list of things to do! :) At any rate, I'll do a run-down of our week there, and what we're up to now.


This was taken on our way to Joshua Tree. The boys decided on some pen and paper time. Sage is working on tracing his boat.

Joshua Tree draws climbers from around the world but we hung out with climbers mostly from Canada. We've been meeting Canadian's all over the place this trip. One of the couples we met, Karean and Alan, from Quebec, preferred rope climbing and so Alan set up this line for us to climb. That's me, in this photo, about 1/2 way up, (hard to see me, but I've got a purplish color shirt). Notice the diagonal line just above my head, that leads off left. The rope followed that line and so that's the direction I climbed. And, yes, I made it to the TOP!!! I love it!


Saylor is getting a lesson in rope tying from Alan. Also in the photo are Lelu (the dog), Avery and her sweet mama, Kara. This and the photo above were taken at Echo Rock. We thought we lost Saylor's climbing shoes at this location, not noticing they were missing for a couple days, and a trip back there didn't turn them up. We were bummed. ***HOWEVER***! :) They revealed themsevles in the surburban about a week later! So happy about that!


Enjoying some hacky sack with (left to right) Brent, Saylor, Kaleb and Jason.

Ani, Avery and Stone taking a break from climbing rocks and shredding clothing (the rocks here are **sharp**, we've seriously got many pair of pants with holes in the behind...Great Memories, though!)

John and the Joshua Trees... which aren't trees at all, rather a species of yucca. They're funky, aren't they? We stayed at the Hidden Valley campground, and there were fields full of them, all scattered in their groovy, twisted ways. Beautiful.

The clan hanging out at Cap Rock after bouldering. Well, some of us bouldered, while the others (ahem...moms and the littles) hung out and chatted...oh, and ate! :)

Pretty decent backyard, yes? We were by far the largest rig in this campground, which is filled with mostly VW bus' and tents. John found a way to squeeze in between two rocks so we could fit here, which was nice, because then we were just around the corner from friends.

This whole area was such a great place to be. Filled with people of so many interesting backgrounds, from so many interesting places. Music filled the air every night, from drumming, to guitar solos and singing. We had a large fire each night we were there. We celebrated St. Patty's day here. It was such a wonderful time getting to know new people and learn more about bouldering and climbing. John was bouldering things in the V rating, can't remember the number exactly, it was a lower number, though. Those are difficult climbs, and he's such a newbie, so I'm quite impressed, though not suprised, at his natural ability. Stud-muffin. ;)

4 comments:

Heather's Moving Castle said...

How amazing! I am so incredibly excited for you all. Looks like a wonderful experience. ;o)

Vicki said...

I was wondering if you ever made it there. Looks like a blast! We love Joshua Tree!!

I hear you're heading back to the midwest...which route you taking?

Kendra said...

Truly God's creation~Love seeing/hearing about your travels. Miss'n the times together. I always have people telling me I'm such a free spirit--you are my sister,(we look a lot alike :0)) can you tell? Keep blogg'n--I'm digg'n it!

5 Chinchen's said...

i'm so glad you found sayolors shoes!
we had such a fun memorable time there with you all.
miss you so much.
hugs to you all!!
xoxo