Our third time in Joshua Tree in two years, the lure this desert has on us is obvious. The first two times it was summer, however this year we were visiting during the peak season, and during the weekend. We didn’t get a campsite, but we also didn’t really try all to hard. We’ve been moving from plan A to plan B pretty fast these days. We decided to stay at a backpackers parking lot. It was free and close to multiple crags. Although excited, we felt like we needed a chill day. We made breakfast at Quail Springs and watched the climbers swarm to the rock. There were so many, the parking lot was overflowing with harnesses, crash pads, and rope. We decided the only way we were going to be able to get on any rock was to wake up at the crack of dawn and get to a familiar top rope.
Lizard’s hangout is where we were stumped by a sand bagged 5.9 last trip. All the forums say it should be a 5.10a, plus everyone knows Joshua Tree is known to have the stiffest grades. We hiked around, watching the show of hundreds of climbers. All of different ages, races, genders, and style. A 70 year old in a short sleeve button down and a 18 year old with dreads could be climbing side by side. Joshua Tree is a community filled with all walks of life. If not inspiring, certainly entertaining. We watched until the sun began to set. Which is when we realized we hadn’t used our cameras all day. The lighting was beautiful so we grabbed them for a short hike in the backpackers lot. I could have taken 1000 pictures of all the Joshua trees. Each with a different shape and symmetry and each completely fascinating and beautiful in their own way. We talked about how nice it was today to not lug around the camera. Today we roamed, today we were care free, today we weren’t on a mission to capture the best shot. We captured the best memories.
We talk about this often. The dilemma between getting amazing, realistic photographs but of course spending a significant amount of time with half your face behind a camera. The perfect photograph that will allow you to reminisce decades down the line also may have altered the original experience itself. Maybe we are relying too much on photographs and less on memories for nostalgia. How much is too much? Is there a balance? We ponder this as we shoot away, occasionally freezing for a few minutes and really seeing the landscape.
Our dusk hike turned into a night hike. No critters but we knew they were out there.
The rays of the morning sun shined though our ceiling fan and I was startled. I shot up not knowing what time it was, thinking I forgot to set the alarm. I looked at my phone and realized oh crap it’s daylight savings. Our plan was to be setting up the rock climbing anchor by sunrise. So we were already an hour behind. It was Sunday, and could tell it was much less crowded. We finally got to Lizard’s Hangout where we had to figure out how to set up a trad anchor with no trees and no cams. It took us a solid 45 minutes to make sure everything was safe and redundant. A clear view of the pull of from the top of the rock, we were able to see if any other climbers were on their way. Thank goodness we were just on our way down before a massive group showed up.
It was the day Zack had been talking about since our last visit in August. He was determined to climb the one he could not complete. Now it probably took him 3 minutes to complete on his first try. He made it look easy. It was my turn, pshh I’ve been able to do every climb he has so far, I should be able to do it.
Nope.
On my fourth try I made it about two feet from the top. But it just wasn’t going to happen. On Zack’s second time he struggled but third and fourth he tried to be instructional to help me out. Oh just place your arm here and your foot here and do this and do that. Ultimately it was an issue to arm strength so it just wasn’t going to happen this year. Next time I’ll be back for revenge. Guess I need to start doing some push ups. I know I can climb a 5.9, that one was just really hard. My arms were scratched up and swollen. My ankles and wrist were bleeding. I really gave it my absolute all. I’m surprised I even got as far as I did. Crack climbing isn’t my favorite. The rock at Joshua Tree is like little puppy teeth eating away bits of your flesh. By the time we finished our finger tips were raw and throbbing. The pain was fun and the scrapes all over our bodies made us feel accomplished. We hug out basking in the sun. It was late but we decided to get a move on. After I just exhausted all my energy climbing there was no way we would climb again. So we left towards Santa Barbara where we would vow to use our cameras minimally and just enjoy the experience.
Living for a Living 
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