Joshua Tree – Much, much warmer…..

It has been a great two weeks in Joshua Tree. Actually only one week, I spent one week in San Francisco getting some city life exposure. The week I was away, the desert got greener. It may not look it compared to the lush green landscapes in the southeast but, the trees are growing and growing greener.

Before leaving for San Francisco, I took an off day run out to the Lost Palms Canyon from Cottonwood Springs. I learned that Joshua Tree National Park was more diverse than I realized. The park is actually two deserts, the Mojave and the Colorado. The two have distinctly different plant life, notice no Joshua trees. Different types of cactus include this one, a Teddy-bear Cholla cactus with a view of the Salton Sea in the background.

The actual spring has its own place in history with evidence that dates back more than two centuries ago. The cotton woods and palms trees were brought in by the miners from the Dale Mining District and Mecca from 1890 to 1910.

The spring has pumped as much as 3,000 gallons of water a day and was piped as far as 18 miles away to the Iron Chief Mine in the Eagle Mountains. Fluctuations in the water table dropped the flow to only a few gallons a day until the 1971 San Fernando earthquake brought the flow to its present level of 30 gallons per day.

I have also had more time to explore the bouldering in the park on this trip. The rock at Joshua Tree is Quartz Monzonite Granite and has amazing friction. Boulder problems can be found within a short walk of the camp grounds and range from V0-Vhard on slopers, crimps, slabs, overhangs and dynos. The argument continues over which is better, Hueco Tanks or Joshua Tree. All I will say is Hueco is more developed and Joshua Tree is more easily accessed.

My future plans are to spend another week or two in Joshua Tree and then return to Red Rocks before heading north to Yosemite. The weather continues to improve and life in Joshua Tree is great. I can see why the park has to enforce the 14 day limit. Oh yeah and there is an awesome Thia resturant just outside of the park. With $10 buffet on the weekends, it's quite a poplar spot amoung climbers.

Uncle, I give – Last post from Utah for now….

After over five days of snow and snow/rain, I give. I am headed for warmer weather and hopefully some sun. I am sure it will clear up hear as soon as I leave but with talk of another front coming through from the southwest, I figure I will head that way and at least expedite its passing. I am off for Joshua Tree, CA. This is about as far south and west as I can go without getting into Mexico.

I did manage to get out some in the storm and visit Canyonlands National Park which is adjacent to Indian Creek. The rangers at the visitor center are probably glad to see me leave. They have a nice warm visitor center with heated bathrooms, plush.

These are the needles of Canyonlands National Park, pretty impressive even in the snow. It was interesting to see the rock quality change so much in such a short distance. The rock here did not lend itself to climbing near as much as the rock in Indian Creek.

Also in the park is the Confluence, the juncture where the Colorado and Green Rivers meet. From here the Colorado goes on to help form the Grand Canyon. The hike to the Confluence is said to be the same trail that the early pioneers took when exploring the west. Now days the trail is marked with cairns, small rock piles. The cairns can bit little difficult to find in the snow but who’s in a hurry.

I hate that I am not going to spend more time in Indian Creek and the Moab Area (actually I have spent more than enough time in the town of Moab) but, I still plan to come back to Utah and visit Zion and see the Grand Canyon. Maybe I will hit Indian Creek again in the fall.

Next stop Joshua Tree, CA.

Temporary Mailing Address:
Warren Harden
General Delivery
US Post Office
57280 Yucca Trl
Yucca Valley, CA 92284

Snow Days – A good time rest, read, reorganize, and slowly go insane will lying in a prone position.

Earlier this week the prospect of snow was a welcome break, a chance to rest and an opportunity for a change in the everyday. Now 3 days later and with the real possibility of 3 more days of snow, its getting a little old. But it does make for an interesting post and some time spent around town.

After returning to camp on Wednesday and finding much more snow than in town I took the opportunity to take what I thought were some rare pictures of the dessert covered in snow. What I didn’t know was this was just a dusting of snow. The real covering was yet to come.

Camp had changed since I had been gone. Most folks had left and one had arrived. A fire that night brought the remaining 3 of us together to talk about how quickly the sun would come out and how fast the rock would dry. This was surely a temporary event. I quietly planned my next trip to town in the event that we were wrong and the weather man was right.

Thursday did offer some sun and a chance to move around and stretch out. My two activities for the day, wood savaging at a nearby forest and setting up a tarp awning from my truck, were the highlights of my day. The awning especially made for a good challenge. When I first set it up there was no wind. Then came a wind from the west, then from the east, then the west again and this time with snow. Fortunately I had the time, patience and energy to workout a compromise that allowed me to cook and eat in the semi-dry while the evening’s entertainment brewed up. By dark the storm had built up enough that everyone, now 5 in total, retreated to their shelters.

I made some modifications the awning and turned in. It was probably around midnight that I decided to go out and take the awning down before the storm did it for me.

Dawn brought a whole new look to Indian Creek and to my truck, seven to ten inches of snow. Looks like its time to go to town, read some back issues of Climbing Magazine at the library, check e-mail, and maybe watch movie or something.

Utah - The trip to, as well as Indian Creek and Castle Valley

What a drive! Once I got past Silver City, NM on my way to Southeastern Utah, it got gorgeous. I never realized how dramatically landscapes can change over such a short distance. Arizona, from what I have seen, is beautiful state. Several folks that I have met along the way encouraged me to visit and from what I saw along the drive, I need to. This is a sunset just outside of Alpine, AZ.

The next morning I drove through Monument Valley between Kayenta, AZ and Mexican Hat, UT. I had planned to drive through at night but, on my father’s recommendation I decided to stay over and see in during daylight hours. Good call. Awesome landscapes, almost like waking up in another country.

Indian Creek (adjacent to Cayonlands NP) – I finally made it. I had to dodge some free range cattle and one mule that almost took me out. I say that because, he would have won had we collided. I swerved and the mule stayed put, a game of chicken Utah style.

Steep sandstone cracks. Hand cracks, finger cracks, fist cracks, basically anything you want in the way of crack climbing (crack climbing is when you stuff your hand, fingers, toes, knees, shoulder, whatever in a crack, expand it and try to make upward progress) and the routes are long. Most routes are 100-120’ in length but do not top out (the rock up high on the cliff gets a little loose). Endurance and technique are a must and I have neither. We’ll have to give it a few weeks.

Castle Valley – I climbed my first desert tower. I am not a tower rat yet but I could be persuaded. Tom, a partner I met in camp and I sent Jah Man on the Sister Superior Tower, in Castle Valley. The tower and route itself was only about 400’ but the approach took over 1000 vertical feet of talus climbing making for some awesome exposure on the route. It the background are two lower towers, Castleton (to be done) and the Rectory closest to my left arm.

Cool nights, warm days and the desert keeps getting greener.