5 days in Joshua Tree

Brian: Thanks for writing that Superbowl post Nick, I know that must have been difficult for you to relive the humiliating game ending pick that your golden boy threw in the fourth quarter. Anyway, I'll be covering the 5 days we spent in Joshua Tree. We started by checking a weather report for the next week, and the only thing we had to worry about was a light rain on Wednesday night, so we went into town, stocked up on wood, and headed into the wild red yonder. We found our campsite by absolute chance, and as we later learned, it was the most desirable campsite in the entire park. It was at the end of this dirt road, with our very own tree (hey, they are rare in the desert) next to a massive outcropping of rocks that we spent the first evening climbing on. Yeah so I ended a sentence with a preposition, sue me. As night fell, we notice that a few of the small boulders had little burned out alcoves, where previous visitors (Native Americans?) had built fires. We used one such alcove, and much like a pizza stone, the rock absorbed heat and radiated it back out towards us, easily tripling the intensity of the fire. We made it an early night. I love camp time. As a morning person it suits me.

The next day we decided to fast, as our adventures up to this point had caused us statistically significant weight gain, and a good cleansing of the works was in order. Don't be gross. We hiked through the Hidden Valley loop and extended that into a dam hike, which was awesome because there was actually water in the reservoir. The ranger told us that this is a rare occasion, and the dam can be empty for up to 10 years. Yay! Finally all this rain has paid off. If anybody ever asks you whether Joshua Tree is as cool as everyone says it is, tell them yes. Our hike back to camp consisted of pointing in the general direction of our site and simply walking. One could truly get lost out there, and that knowledge is exciting and terrifying. The day ended with some hardcore reading. And a rearrangement of our tarp to be above our tent in anticipation of the rain. We broke our fast after dark for a box of Girl Scout Cookies. Did you know that Samoas are called Caramel Delights on the east coast? Thin Mints are always Thin Mints, and Nick and I curled up with smug chocolate covered smiles and waited for morning.

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a huge branch sliding down the tarp we had strung up with our shoelaces. Actually like 50 huge branches. Wait, what is going on here? I have to pee anyway, so I'll step outside and check it out. I opened the flap to out tent and was absolutely stunned. There were at least 2 inches of snow on the ground. Our sleeping bags were put to the test that night. Clearly, since I am alive to blog about it, they passed.

When we woke up, Joshua Tree National Park was a snowy wonderland. The fact that desert fauna are not intended by nature to be covered in white crystal made the scenery that much more beautiful. We built a snow fire in our favorite alcove and stared at it for two hours. And I think on this day we spent a couple hours in town resupplying and attending to administrative duties at a nearby Starbucks. Before we went back into JTree, we grabbed some Chinese food at a place called Fast Chinese. The cute Asian girl at the register asked us if we were twins, and when we said no, she wisely said, "Ah so, you must have been through a lot together." Creepy but awesome. By the time we got back to the park, all the snow had melted, and more reading, cooking, fire, and sleep ensued. It was on this night we met Justin and Brianna, a couple on a climbing vacation. They begged us for our campsite, and we allowed them to move in tomorrow night so that they could have it for sure.

Thursday morning was a very chill day. We took a hike to a ranch in the morning, rocked out till about 3, and then watched Justin give Brianna a climbing lesson, as well as climb a pretty huge rock himself. Nick has a video of his moments of success. They were cool people, and they were refreshed to be hanging out with a couple of non-climbers. This was reinforced later when we met a couple of guys (they were French, not gay Nick) who tried unsuccessfully to boulder a, well, boulder. For you climbing enthusiasts it was a -5,5, but it looked harder than that.

And that basically wraps it up. I'll let Nick pick up with our Day at the Races, and our fun final night in LA. Feel free to cover as much of Palm Desert, including the 1.5 hour hike where you almost died, as well. Brian out.

San Diego, CA through Joshua Tree National Park, CA

Brian: Today was a rough one, and not just because we planned on camping and then it rained this night. You'll see. We left Steve and Leah's well rested but apparently not completely "with it" because we left some pretty vital items there (don't worry parents, we had our computers). More on that as we set up camp. Basically every person we've run into on the west coast has sworn that Joshua Tree is one of the coolest national parks in the country, and we had a day before the Superbowl, so we decided to just book it out there and see what happens. But right as we were pulling into the park, we realized we only had a couple bars of gas left in Lucy. In order to avoid the fume-driving incident from a couple days ago, we turned around to hit the nearest gas station. It was 20 miles away.

Nick: Ever heard of Mecca? I mean, OK, you've heard of Mecca, but do you know the one in Southern California? You do? Are you Hispanic? Knew it. As Brian commented as we pulled into town, we've never felt so much like outsiders in our own country. No one spoke English, and nothing was written in anything but Spanish. No problem, there's a gas station. Those work bilingually right? Mm, you know, we need firewood too though. That shouldn't be too bad, I know the word for "wood" (unfortunately that knowledge came from the iPhone, and not my four semesters of college Spanish) so "Necesito madura para un fuego" should be close enough to land us some of what we need. Three different stores and a lot of confused Hispanic people later, we were only able to come up with a couple bags of charcoal. Guess it'll do.

Brian: Our theory was that since there are no trees in the desert, the expense of shipping firewood to their local Hispanic food markets would outweigh the benefits for shop owners. On the other hand, Joshua Tree National Park website states explicitly that they do not provide firewood, so maybe that's something to think about, ese. So after a couple hours we headed back to Joshua Tree, with the feeling that our affairs were somewhat in order. In fact so confident were we, that we decided to go on a little hike that brought us back to our campground around dusk. Nick, you are on fire duty. I'll pitch the tent. Where's the tent? Oh, here it is (tricked you). After that we attempted to roast some hotdogs over the coals, but instead of providing heat, the coals decided to release noxious black fumes which instantly dyed our dogs black.

Nick: Screw it, we've got some chips and jerky. I say we call it quits: get into our super warm sleeping bags and go to sleep; just because it's a desert doesn't mean it's hot after the sun goes down. Oh. Oh, oh oh. Crap. No bags. We must have forgotten them at Steve and Leah's place. Well, tent, as much as we've come to enjoy your non-waterproof company, we've got to shack up in Lucy tonight. Only way to keep warm. If you were to have stumbled upon our car in the middle of the cold, lonely desert that night, you'd have found two men wearing damn near every article of clothing they own, curled up in balls shivering and praying for day light. Did we mention it was raining? That we both have monster beards at this point wouldn't have helped to dispel the hobo-chic look.

Brian: If you were wondering, slightly damp towels are a poor alternative for sleeping bags. I swear the next time it rains we will be prepared. Mark my words... Brian and Nick, coldly out.