Joshua Tree - Day 2

More climbing, some photography, and another evening session.

Day 2 - Thursday

Spoiler; day 2 was my most successful day in Joshua Tree! It was a successful day of climbing, I made friends, and I shot a lot of film.

Thursday morning started before sunrise. I got moving a little slower than I wanted, and I had to stop on my way into the park to get gas. My goal that morning was Land of the Lost. I had my eye on a boulder called Chorizo Taco (V4).

When I pulled up to park, I was the only one in the area. Nice but also, not nice when you’re out climbing by yourself. I ventured into a valley that was lush and green. Who would’ve thought that existed out here in the desert! I made my way through the foliage and boulders and scrambled my way up to the climb(s) I wanted to try that morning. Chorizo Taco (V4), also had a stand start that was V2, so it seemed like a great spot to have options. My plan was to warmup then work the stand start first and progress to the V4 start if things felt good.

I started with an unnamed V1 a few feet away. It took some time, the first move was the hardest, but once I fully committed and wanted it, I made it happen and sent it!

Now I’m warm and have some confidence, on to Chorizo Taco Stand (V2). I worked this problem as the sun really started to come up. Since this was west facing that wasn’t an issue, but I felt like I was up agains the clock as the shade where I was resting was disappearing. I figured out the first sequence fairly quick, but I was absolutely stuck on a big throw to a pretty small and sharp crimp rail. Eventually I figured out the feet, stuck the move and held on. The top out was fairly simple from there. And I had done it, I sent a named problem in Joshua Tree, and it was a V2! I looked out over the valley glowing in the morning sun. It was quite a sight. Once I made my way back down I decided not to try the V4 start. I had spent so much energy and skin working the V2 stand start, and I wanted to go get on some other things.

I made my way back down the rock pile and through the green valley. I came out and noticed a couple of boulders situated basically 100ft from my car. I figured while I was here I might as well give them a try. I pulled on a couple of them, but nothing really had me excited, and these were East facing, which meant they were getting the brunt of the morning sun. Off to the next area.

I headed to the Outback Area for my mid morning session. I had a few problems on my list here and the first were some problems on the False Hueco boulder. There are a lot of variations available here, kind of a choose your own adventure (and difficulty). When I rounded the corner of the trail I saw a couple of people already there working on it. Great, I didn’t realize quite how sloped the landing was and probably would have walked away had I been there alone with my two crash pads. Henry and Chet were from the Portland area, and it was Henry’s first time climbing outside (woof, what an introduction to the outdoors).

I spent a lot more time than expected at this boulder, and was about to walk away from False Hueco (V1) until Chet tried something different on the move I was stuck on, I tried it and was like “that’s so much easier than anything else I’ve tried” then I sent it on my next go! Sent a classic at JTree, let’s go!!! Their friend Lauren also showed up, and I hung out for a while with them while Henry and Lauren tried to figure out False Hueco Traverse (V2) and Chet sent it for the third time to get a video. It was a great morning session, but eventually I needed to get out of the heat and have some lunch, so we exchanged info and I went on my way.

When I got back to the car I realized I probably didn’t have enough water to last the day. Bummer. I meant to grab my other water jug on the way out the door this morning but forgot. So I headed all the way out of the park, and picked up more water, I didn’t want to be stuck out there without water or rationing it when I really didn’t need to. When I got back to the park I set out on a hike at Arch Rock. Here (and other places) I shot a whole roll of Lomo Purple, which is all in this post:

I also shot some more normal things (Pro Image 100 and Kodak Plus-X) on that hike. By the way, this was my first time leaving the Mojave and venturing into the second desert in the park, the Colorado desert.

After my hike I found some boulder problems that were in the shade for an afternoon/evening session. I headed to the JBMFP boulder to try a few things. That was… a mistake? Ok, probably not, but it felt like it at the time because everything was difficult or just didn’t get me excited to climb.

These climbs were tough. The boulder was pretty tall, and everything in the area felt so difficult. Maybe the success earlier in the day had me feeling overconfident, or maybe my peak of the trip was done, either way, nothing went for me that night. I tried some V2s and V3s in the area, took a look at a highball V0 and said “absolutely not” and took a look at a few things around Yabo Roof (V3), but couldn’t get psyched on anything.

Eventually, I made my way over to The Womb (Veasy) to try and save my night. This is an iconic climb, and it’s a Veasy so I figured I could get it even in the dark. But I couldn’t find the feet, and didn’t want to commit to the topout without anyone else around. I went home feeling mixed from the full day. Excited and happy for my morning’s sends, and the new friends I made, but a bit sad that the evening session was underwhelming.