This is a report about a climbing trip to Joshua Tree National Park in April and May 2024. We camped and climbed trad for 4 days in beautiful weather.

Joshua Tree National Park West Entrance Sign

My hope for this story is that climbers may be able to leverage some insights within and apply lessons during their climbing experiences. Non-climbers may also enjoy getting to know my world a little more even though it’s primarily a story about climbing.

Readers are warned that the story includes climbing beta and discussion of emotions during everyday climbing. Read on if you’d like.

And: climbing is dangerous and you assume all risk. If you use any ideas here in your own climbing, I am not responsible or liable for any injury or worse.

Planning

Joshua Tree is a popular winter climbing destination, especially relative to Yosemite since Joshua Tree has warmer weather. We decided to go to Joshua Tree after Luke and friends went on a climbing trip to the Gunks. One of them moved near Joshua Tree and there was also the American Alpine Club annual gala in Los Angeles in April. So, we designed a 4-day climbing trip to Joshua Tree Sunday through Thursday.

We were able to get two campsites at Ryan Campground ahead of time. Upon arriving at Joshua Tree, we drove through Hidden Valley Campground and saw many open sites on Sunday afternoon. So, we occupied a nice one with afternoon shade and cancelled our Ryan campsites. I’m glad we switched because HVCG seems to have more shade and was closer to most of the climbs we did.

Joshua Tree has no water or food or restaurants inside and Hidden Valley Campground is about 30-40 minutes from restaurants, so we planned to eat food at camp sometimes and in town at restaurants sometimes. We stopped at Walmart and REI in LA for supplies, and also re-supplied at Walmart in Yucca Valley (close to Joshua Tree) during the trip. For water, the Joshua Tree West Entrance Station had a spigot where we could fill up our water containers for free.

Arrival Day

We had two climbing guide books and we initially took tips from “The Trad Guide to Joshua Tree: 60 FAVORITE Climbs from 5.5 to 5.9” - https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books/the-trad-guide-to-joshua-tree-60-favorite-climbs-from-5-5-to-5.9

This led us to go check out Atlantis Wall after setting up camp. We found the wall pretty easily and scoped out our first 2 climbs. We admired the pretty plants, sunset and a twerking beetle.

Then we went in to town, ate pizza, I talked with Mar and the boys, we bought firewood and paper towels. Sleep came easy. It was cold overnight, I had to adjust my sleeping bag.

Climbing Day 1 - Atlantis & Mt Grossvogel

After a long arrival day, we slept in a bit on the first climbing day. We started to make friends with our campsite neighbor, Gary in the morning. He’d heard our conversation about the stars the night before, and that was a connection point. After sleeping in, we got to Atlantis wall at around 930a to climb Men With Cow’s Heads (5.5) and Solar Technology (5.6) - two separate 50 foot one-pitch routes which share the start.

We were quickly followed by another party of 5 who was setting up top ropes on adjacent routes. This group was fun to be around - locals with a sense of humor and ease. One had a cool hat brim added to their climbing helmet. And one took some photos and videos of us and sent them my way - thanks!

Men With Cow’s Heads (5.5, 1 pitch) and Solar Technology (5.6, 1 pitch)

Both of the routes were a great intro to Joshua Tree. We got to get our trad lead practice in on some easier grades and had the comfort of a short scramble hike off of the top of the route rather than rappelling. I led the Cow’s Heads which was pretty straight up, easy to protect, and quick to lead. There were a few options for an anchor up top, and I chose a spot close to the edge. This made my belay a little awkward since I didn’t have a lot of space to take in slack from the followers. After asking both followers, they said they would have set the anchor further back to give themselves more room for the belay. David led Solar Tech which was a left leaning diagonal crack. Both were close to vertical the entire route.

Unfortunately the routes were in the sun - against what “The Trad Guide” reported. When we finished with these routes, we moved on to Mount Grossvogel to climb two routes and four more pitches of 5.5 and 5.6. “The Trad Guide” said both of these routes were in all day shade - wahoo! It was about a 15 minute hike from Atlantis to Mount Grossvogel and the base was in the shade! But the routes weren’t. Oh well. As the authors mentioned in “The Trad Guide”, their sun/shade info is from winter through early spring and “the sun varies its path through the sky in different times of year.”

Dr. Suess Vogel (5.6, 2 pitches)

We kept alternating leads so it was Luke’s turn to lead Dr. Suess Vogel (5.6) next. The beginning was a little tricky and then there was a short left traverse which was fun. The second pitch was lower angle. Luke made his anchor far back to get “a little more climbing in”. Hah.

The downscramble had risk with the beginning going down a steep decline and a little hop - where a mistake could be deadly. I went first, spotted Luke, and he spotted David. There were plenty of ways to continue down, I went first and waited for my partners to follow for most of it, but towards the bottom, I chose a path which was more direct but required a 6 foot downclimb and they went another way.

We waited a little for some shade to approach the next route, and the climbers from the UK to finish the next route, and to eat more food. We’d done 4 pitches by now, and were gearing up for the next 2.

Roboranger (5.6, 2 pitches)

It was my turn to lead again and we were back to a 5.5 route, Roboranger. The beginning of this route has a roof which was fun to pull. I think it was harder, at least more powerful, than any move on Dr Suess Vogel. The rest of the climb was lower angle and easy to protect. We finished quickly and descended the same way as Dr Suess Vogel.

Me leading the start of Roboranger after pulling the roof

We also decided to take a different hike back to our cars because we saw a road. The road led us to an old ranger station. and the hike out turned out to be about twice as long as the hike in which was unexpected for us. It was nice to get back to the car :)

I had many oranges when we returned to camp, and made a few freeze dried meals. We explored around the campground playing, noticing neat rocks, listening to the swooping birds, checking out the pretty flowers, and of course, enjoying the sunset.

We made a fire. Our neighbor, Gary, hung out at the fire with us. He was also retired and really loves being outdoors, so he fit right in with our group.

Climbing Day 2 - Real Hidden Valley

Our camp ground in the morning.

We decided on Real Hidden Valley as the second day climbing location because it was close, had some easy routes, and David had climbed there before.

The Valley is beautiful. To hike in, you walk through some boulders that were blasted open with explosives by an early settler so he could get cows into the Valley. The boulders in the pathway obscure the Valley from the parking lot and initial hike in, keeping your senses close. But then you wind through the blasted boulders and there’s a great reveal and soak in the expansive beauty. Walls all around the 200m wide by 400m long valley. You can imagine the vegetation present when that settler blasted the rocks before desertification.

The valley had signs like the Atlantis area that intend to guide climbers.

While still trying to find the first wall to climb, a climbing guide told us they had top ropes setup on the Thin Wall. We kept looking for the wall anyways, but then pivoted to look at the routes on Sentinel when we didn’t immediately find Thin Wall. We first noticed the shady west face of Sentinel and found a 5.7 chimney in https://www.wolverinepublishing.com/shop-all-guidebooks/p/joshua-tree-rock-climbs. But it took wide gear - which we didn’t have. So, we went back to the northeast face of Sentinel to try to find Fote Hog (5.6).

Fote Hog (5.6, 2 pitches) @ Sentinel Wall, East Face

Fote Hog was listed in the “The Trad Guide”. David led the first pitch which traverses left before delicate moves up, more traversing to the right and then we got to pull on big plates in the top section of pitch 1.

David just before the plates on pitch 1

Jason finishing pitch 1

Pitch 2 had a difficult section at the beginning. There were two cracks which offered the only jams or holds among slabby slabs. The left crack was slopy but curled to the right as you got higher and the right crack was super thin and vertical. The section was a little spooky on lead. My arms couldn’t reach both cracks at the same time so I elected to choose the left crack, with a lieback technique, pushing and smearing my shoes into the rock to not fly off.

Start of pitch 2 had a cruxy section

After the cruxy start, there was a really nice lie back up to the spacious belay station.

The spacious belay atop Fote Hog

As is typical with climbing, we’re rewarded with amazing views, this is while walking off Fote Hog.

Top Ropes (5.8, 5.10a, 5.10c) @ The Thin Wall

After Fote Hog, Luke checked in with the guides at The Thin Wall while David and I rested and snacked in the shade. The guides graciously offered for us to top rope their lines, and also gave him some pointers about where else we could climb on other days. So, after snacking, we popped over to The Thin Wall and hopped on a few of their top ropes and Luke went to setup one of our own on a 5.10c. By the time Luke returned, David and I had each climbed 2 routes, and the guides were starting to take down their ropes. Luke asked them again for tips on what to climb elsewhere, and this time he recorded the conversation. One of the routes they suggested was called “Right On” and we ended up climbing it the next day.

The route Luke set our top rope on was called “Child’s Play” and was a 5.10c. We were glad to have a top rope on the route, as it was too far outside of our trad lead comfort zone. The top of the route was powerful and tiring - a nice change from the other routes we’d done thus far. So, that was fun.

As we were about to pack up for the day, a couple came by and started to climb next to us. They live near Yosemite Valley and have been climbing a long time. The guy led first and didn’t place protection until about 40 feet up. That was too high for me, so I watched nervously and quietly until he clipped that first piece of pro.

Luke and I walked up to clean our top rope anchor. It was a fun scramble to and from the anchor.

As we finished up, we still had some steam, and found another route that ought to be in the shade on the way out of the Hidden Valley parking area.

Easy Day (5.4) @ Turtle Rock, East Face

Luke led Easy Day and it was a pleasant end to the day. It was entirely in the shade, and was the easiest pitch of the day.

Climbing Day 3 - Saddle Rocks & Hidden Valley Campground

Right On (5.6, 4 pitches) @ Saddle Rocks

Right On was recommended to us by a guide at the Thin Wall the day prior. One of the guides mentioned something like “Make sure not to fall on the first pitch”. I was excited for Right On since it was one of the longest routes in the entire park at 4 pitches.

The climbing location was obvious.

When we arrived in the nearby parking lot at about the same time as 2 other parties. This is both a good sign - the route is sought after by others! And sometimes an annoyance - others in front of you could be slow or worse. We chatted with one party - a guide with 1 client. The guide, Kelly, knew the other party. As we chatted with Kelly, we all agreed to let the other party go first - they’d be fastest, Kelly and client would go second since Kelly would be fast on pitch 1 too. And our party would go third.

It’s nice to climb after a guided team because guides are often super nice and the people being guided are normally also very nice and eager. Occasionally you find a different setup, but that’s normally been my experience. Also fortunately, the client was pretty quick on climbing pitch 2, and Kelly was only having the client lead 1 of 4 pitches of Right On (in fact, they’d step off on to an adjacent route after pitch 2). So, that was the plan!

As we got to the base of the climb, the first party was going up. Kelly told us that the leader has spent more time on El Capitan (Yosemite) than anyone. That’s a big deal. I watched as the leader climbed the entire first pitch without placing gear. When he got to the pitch 1 anchors and clipped them, he called down to his partner and said “clipped my first piece”. Wow.

Kelly led from the second party. She did the slab portion differently than the first leader - first she actually placed gear and second, she took a different path. I was the leader for our group. I intended to follow her style - gear placement & path. Except I was going to place even more gear! Wahoo!

The beginning seemed like Joshua Tree 5.6 - protectable and pretty obvious. After placing a cam in a flaring crack to my right, I could either go up right where leader 1 went or go back left where Kelly went to clip a bolt in the middle of the pitch. As I made my way towards the bolt, I was thinking about how nice it would be to reach the bolt. I was coming in a little too high from the right of the bolt and was worried I would slip on the slab. Perhaps if I was coming in from below the bolt it would have felt differently. I was able to clip my draw to the bolt and snagged the draw so I wouldn’t fall. Maybe I wouldn’t have fallen. No onsight, but that’s ok. It’s better than getting an injury.

There were still a few slabby parts after the mid-pitch bolt that were tenuous for me - I had a high step and mantle move at one point. But I didn’t need to hang on any more gear. When I got to the anchor, the station was great and Kelly was kind enough to make a gear anchor to leave the bolted anchor open for me.

I chatted with Kelly at the top of the pitch while her client led pitch 2. And belayed up Luke and David. I got some feedback to keep the follower tighter. Oops. I asked if anyone else wanted to lead, and both Luke and David preferred that I lead the rest. So I did! Pitch 2 had an amazing hand crack. It was too short though! I wanted it to go on for longer. The belay station was also very nice - a big ledge. I got to talk with Kelly’s client while we waited to climb pitch 3.

I led pitch 3. It starts as an offwidth which was just stunning. Back against the right overhanging wall, feet and hands have a lot of options on the left. I got through the beginning so quickly that Luke called up to me that he didn’t get to see me leading that section. Oops :) Also, somehow the rope got overhand knotted. Ooops! Luke had to untie to fix the problem.

Pitch 3 anchor was situated among big boulders at the bottom of a gully. It felt super secure. Again I got some feedback after belaying them both to keep the follower tighter - Oops. I must not be feeling it, or hearing them mid-pitch.

A free soloist passed by Luke and then by David and I. They asked if they could turn their music on to which I approved. They turned on some rap music and kept on their way. A little higher up they said “Hey Kelly!” to the guide next door.

I led the final pitch up the easy gully and up to the top of the features. The last 30 feet was run out, but it flattened out so I was calm. The top had bolts.

We did 2 rappels to make it to the ground. Then there was a steep hike through a boulder field. This was pretty fun and we had a unique perspective of the route. Normally you don’t get to walk down the side of the route you just climbed and see it from this view.

Like other hikes in Joshua Tree, I was noticing the wild life.

I really liked Right On and suggest it to folks who’ve gotten slab, chimney, and hand/fist crack jamming practice. It was a great all around route for our team. I’m super happy we got the recommendation and took it!

After Right On, we went back to camp. I enjoyed many cold clementine oranges and lunch. And we looked for another close route we could hop on.

Mike’s Books (5.6, 2 pitches) @ Hidden Valley Campground, Intersection Rock

We decided to do Mike’s Books - a 2 pitch route in the campground. It took about 5 minutes to walk there from our campsite - so incredible to have amazing climbs this close to camping!

Luke led the entire route since I led Right On earlier in the day. There are a few different ways to start - a direct thin crack, or an indirect balance walk over. Since I was seconding, I chose the harder option and it was fun! It would have felt dicey on lead for me probably. The route is called Mike’s Books because there are two chimneys which appear like open books - and both chimneys were fun! The whole route is fun, and given it’s proximity to the Hidden Valley Campground, I highly recommend the route.

The last part of the route is runout slab. I saw a bolt and kind of laughed thinking “what’s the point? it’s so close to the end” but then I climbed above it and saw the point :D

We rappelled the route, Luke went first. As I was waiting at the top, a dude driving an RV on the nearby road stopped, looked up at me at the top of the formation, took some pictures, waved, and readied his camera to take a video of me rappelling. The dude reminded me of my curiosity during my first year of climbing. I learned to climb in bouldering gyms and single pitch sport. And during that first year, I went to Yosemite Valley with Dave and Sarah. I knew nothing about trad climbing, multipitch climbing, rappelling, aid climbing. I saw people way high up and wondered, “How do they get that high? How do they get down?”. When I returned home, I promptly bought guide books, big wall books, trad books, anchor books and started my book learning about climbing.

On the descent, as we were both at the top of pitch 1, I was helping Luke shift his personal anchor. Given my experience becoming unanchored during a multi-pitch rappel, I was trying to be extra safe for him and lent him some draws and connected them for him so he wouldn’t need to become unanchored. Ironically, during the shuffles, I also needed to shift my anchor around the rappel rope and rather than double connecting like I insisted Luke do, I just came unanchored intentionally for a second. It was the expedient thing, and I felt secure. It was interesting I was so dogmatic for Luke but not myself.

Climbing Day 4 - Cyclops Rock

The Eye (5.4, 1 pitch) @ Cyclops Rock, walking distance from the campground

Extended w a few double length slings. Some holds were slick, so you can tell the route has seen many ascents. Anchor was 2x4 and a 3, walked off. Fun, picturesque, slight overhangs to pull, climbs to a beautifully shaded cave and an easy scramble walk off after.

We saw Cyclops Rock on our first night. I was pretty sure I saw someone doing a kneel-down proposal - but no one else saw it. Also, later, there were people on the top well into the dark dark. We could see headlamps. I was actually a little concerned if they’d make it down since they seemed to be exploring with headlamps quite a bit. But they made it.

On our second evening (first day of climbing), we walked around the back and front of Cyclops Rock during our exploration. We looked up The Eye route and initial beta rated it a 5.1 or some really low number. Others thought it was higher. Somewhere a long the line, we also learned that there was something like a Bachelor proposal up on the rock and that it’s just a popular place to propose. I can understand why. But, I proposed naked in our house one day before work. So, I can say with certainty that MY proposal location was VERY unique.

We noted The Eye route as a possible route we’d do on the last day. So, as the last day rolled around, that’s what we did!

We also coordinated with our camping neighbor who considered to come watch us climb.

I led the route. For a 5.4, there were some interesting roofs to pull. The route was also notably slick compared to the rest of the routes I’ve done in Joshua Tree, Yosemite, or Red Rock. Although Seismic Wall in Austin’s Barton Creek Greenbelt limestone is pretty similar. It’s just interesting to feel Joshua Tree granite that slick - definitely the slickest granite I’ve ever experienced.

The end is a glorious cave which opens on the backside to reveal a relaxed walk off. I brought big gear since we heard the anchor needed it, and I used two BD #4s and one #3 for our anchor. I had to use a single length sling for the anchor since I used the only longer slings on the route. I got some feedback that I could have alternated clipping our double ropes more to avoid sling use - something I’ll aim for in future routes.

An easy to get to, fun and picturesque route with a cool belay and an easy walk off. Checks a lot of boxes. However, the slickness prevent it from being a definite recommendation from me.

Our camping neighbor snapped this one of us after we finished The Eye.

Reflections

Uncovering yourself

I’ve found myself appreciating nature a lot more in recent years. As I was imagining life in retirement, nature was prevalent. I’d spent ~20 years on computers in university + work and wanted to be closer with nature. As I was reflecting on why I climb and specifically in outdoor multipitch trad, I penned challenge, beauty, communing with nature, feeling alive, presence, learning, growth, movemen; nature came up again. So, perhaps it’s just an obvious follow-on that I’m noticing and appreciating nature while I’m on climbing trips.

But, I like the shift in attention to notice and appreciate and learn about nature more. And, perhaps this appreciation for the appreciation is evidence that I was spot on with identifying my underlying needs and priorities.

Sun beta may not be accurate

Sun beta for climbing is hard and part of the challenge of outdoor climbing. Books and websites today cannot tell the full story - it’s just too much information - and also if they could, it’d take some of the “fun” out of the process. Some of the “I’m adventuring” and “I’m doing something rare” would be diminished.

But, this is something I can say that I’ve learned: sun beta may not be accurate

Preparations, staying safe, pride

Before the Joshua Tree trip, Luke and I specifically practiced slab at Enchanted Rock on Mark Of the Beast (5.8, 3 pitches). I felt quite good on this route - in the zone, cautious yet confident and not spooked. However, on Joshua Tree’s Right On, as I came into the first bolt in the first half of the slab, my heart raced with insecurity and I thought I would fall. I seemed too high above the bolt, to step down onto the high angle slab with few obvious places to place my foot. But I was able to get my quickdraw in the bolt, awkwardly and tenuously. And then I grabbed the quick draw and gently lowered myself below the bolt and clipped my rope in.

Sometimes we do this when climbing, to stay safe. Grab or step on something besides the rock. Totally understandable. Safety is more important than letting your egoic pride lead you towards injury or worse.

But our self-preservation instincts don’t erase the pride that comes from pushing yourself and achieving an accomplishment. There’s a part of me that wishes I hadn’t needed to grab the quickdraw.

I guess this just means that I’ll need to go back to Right On someday to lead it clean, without hanging on a draw. :D I’m fine with that, it was a fun route!

Getting curious and learning

The RV dude that watched me atop Mike’s Books with obvious curiosity reminds me of myself in Yosemite during my first year of climbing, looking up in awe and curiosity at the climbers scaling the walls in the Valley and Tuolomne.

As I said, I bought numerous books to learn about climbing after that trip. I did indeed read about how climbers go up more than 1 rope length, how they get down, and how they climb super hard parts of rock and more. But, that doesn’t mean that I learned those things!

I don’t think I really learned climbing skills until I’ve practiced and applied them enough to know when I’m doing them incorrectly.

Case in point: My first ever trad lead was at Enchanted Rock’s Jack Knife (5.5, 1 pitch). I was out there with Scott, Karthik, and Caroline. I sure remember feeling confident enough to lead the route - I’d led a lot harder sport routes. I remember gearing up not knowing exactly which gear to bring. I remember bringing hexes up the route and them rattling as I climbed past their poor placements. I had NOT learned trad gear placement yet. I had not practiced trad gear placement. I finished the route and got down without ever weighting my trad placements.

In a full circle kind of way, in 2024, I finally took a leader fall on my trad placement. A BD #4 as the start piece on Enchanted Rock’s Becky’s Crack (5.9, 1 pitch). It held, preventing me from major injury. 10 years later, I’m still finally learning - something I intend to do forever.

Accepting risk, and making mistakes

After all of my reflections of my rappel mistake on Epinephrine, I’ve been very cautious around anchors - triple checking that I’m anchored before untying the rope or coming off rappel; doubling up my personal anchors. However, on this Joshua Tree trip on Mike’s Books, I felt secure coming unanchored on a rappel.

The risks in climbing are omnipresent. Climbers can be aware of risks and therefore can accept them, or not. The rappel mistake I made on on Epinephrine was less safe than intentionally unanchoring in a safe position on Mike’s Books because one had intention.

In preparation for our upcoming Gunk’s trip, Luke and I did some trad climbing at Enchanted Rock. We first went up Jack Knife (5.5, 1 pitch), did some shenanigans to get down to cave crack, had to untangle ropes (this seems to be a pattern with me!), and turned Cave Crack (5.6, 1 pitch) into a 2 pitch route for practice. I led the second pitch. The angle lowers significantly towards the top

• you walk for the last 40 feet. So, of course I ran it out. If I would have fallen (super unlikely), and not been able to stop myself, I could have gotten very badly hurt. Adding a piece here or there would have decreased the fall length, but it wasn’t necessary. This is an example of accepting risk rather than making a mistake. At the top of this climb on this day, I made a Connecticut Tree Hitch and then tied an overhand on the excess rope to attach a master point to belay Luke up. When Luke arrived, he looked at the anchor to confirm the CT Hitch was setup right, and also noticed that I tied a slipknot - not an overhand - and he could just pull the master point. Oops! This is a mistake. I can learn from both mistakes and accepting risks. Now for knots for the master point, I’ll tug both sides to make sure it’s stable.

There’s a difference, to me, between accepting a risk intentionally and making a mistake, as long as you had the prerequiste knowledge to identify the mistake.

The more pitches the merrier

After climbing for a few days in Joshua Tree, my preference for long multipitch routes was affirmed. I enjoyed the 4-pitch route the most - you get in a groove and move a long distance. With 1- or 2-pitch routes, there’s so much setup after each pitch. I see the sport climbing I do in Austin as preparation for multipitch climbing.

Soon I’ll be climbing in the Gunks - where the vast majority of routes are single pitch, with only 4 routes on Mountain Project which are 4 or more pitches. We’ll see how the shorter routes feels there and if I ever book another expensive trip to few pitch areas, or I prioritize more pitch places like Red Rock or even more pitches like Yosemite.

Closing

Climbing brings me opportunities to learn - minor mistakes, accepting the risk of leading and falling on my gear, accepting the risk of being unanchored, major unintentional mistakes, about myself, etc. I like that.

Appendix

What I’ve been consuming

• The Great Simplification (podcast)
• Good Inside (book) - chapters on defiance, sleep, separation anxiety
• Bison Restoration of the Great Plains (book)
• Eager (book) - about beavers
• Nuclear Flashpoint (book) - about human rights issues in Kashmir
• News about Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen - I noticed a few days ago that a top leader of Hezbollah was assassinated and became re-interested in the news as the tensions continue to escalate :|

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