LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 24 Joshua Tree National Park is one of the top climbing destinations in the country, with thousands of docu- mented routes, but only a fool would make a trip there in summer. That would be me. I went last August, when midday temperatures hovered around 100 degrees. In six days, I saw no climbers- -except one guy whom I'll say more about in due course. I had traveled to California to attend my son's wed- ding. At the last minute, I decided to fly out a week early, rent a car, and drive to Joshua Tree, heat be damned. I wanted to hire a rock-climbing guide for a day or two. Before the flight, I called three or four guide ser- vices and was told they didn't operate in Joshua Tree in summer. So I bought a guidebook at the Mountain- eer and looked for routes that I might be able to climb solo on a top rope. I filled a duffel with the necessary climbing gear. The plane landed at L A X late on Friday night. I drove my rental, a Jeep Wrangler, straight to Joshua Tree, the tiny town just outside the park. By the time I got there it was about 3 a.m., so I was surprised to see a line of cars leaving the park. By then I had been up nearly 24 hours, so perhaps I was hallucinating. I found a dead-end dirt road and got a few hours' sleep in the back of the Jeep. On Saturday morning, I drove into "downtown" Josh- ua Tree for a hearty breakfast at the Country Kitchen, served outside on a table equipped with a small fan, and then headed to the park. This time I was surprised to encounter a line of cars entering the park. I had assumed Joshua Tree didn't see much traffic at the height of summer. Given my lack of sleep, I planned an easy day. I drove through the park, stopping to take short hikes or to inspect climbing routes. The landscape was something out of Dr. Seuss; boulders of all shapes and sizes were piled on top of each other. Some of these rock jum- bles rose hundreds of feet above the desert floor. The ubiquitous Joshua trees (which are actually a species of yucca) assumed a variety of fantastic poses. Their skinny, twisting branches looked like gnarled fingers or the claws of strange beasts. I also stopped at numerous pullouts with education- al signs. Joshua Tree National Park, which encompass- es 790,000 acres- -nearly three times the size of the High Peaks Wilderness- -straddles two deserts. The park's western sector (where you'll find most of the climbing) belongs to the Mojave Desert. The eastern sector, lower and hotter, belongs to the Colorado Desert. For most of the ride, the Jeep's thermometer Epic Journey: Rock Climbing in Joshua Tree Article and Photos By Phil Brown

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