We got up early and hit the road. Joshua Tree in one day, let’s see how it goes.
The plan was to head up to Right Dairy Queen and spend the day hanging out. Emma’s pulley injury was much better, but still worrisome, so we thought that a cluster of 5.7 routes with big handholds would be perfect. I could always attempt some harder stuff if I wanted too. But once the ledge came into view, we began to have doubts. I saw two heads pop up, which seemed reasonable, but then a third, fourth, sixth… Then I noticed three top ropes already set up. The ledge was fairly big, but not that big. As we approached the boulder field below, a woman in NPS uniform appeared, with two older folks in tow. I had to ask if they were headed up there as well. She informed us that today the wall was going to be taken over by a group of 25 for all day top roping and a seminar(!) up on the ledge. So glad we found out before scrambling all the way up.
Given the circumstances we settled on Hemmingway. The routes were longer, more committing, and harder, so not ideal for Emma’s finger, but it was the best option we had. After considering our options we opted to climb Hernie Hernie Hernie.
This was a fun climb, if a little heady. Protection was on the iffy side, and included an ok-ish wire and a optimistically slung horn. The loose flake is a little unnerving, but really no problem (except that it makes pro pretty scarce). I was feeling confident after cruising up Whodunit, but Joshua Tree has a way of dishing out spooky reality checks. The grade felt true to me, and if it was harder than Funky Dung it would be due to more cruxes required different techniques.
We’ve all had our moments of climbing ourselves into a bad place. Occasionally some sort of deep instinctive urge overrides our judgment and we pay the price. Today Emma fell for it for the first time. Which is impressive since she’s been climbing for seven years.
The route steps up into an offwidth which accesses a blank face traverse right to a bolt. But Emma’s efforts to avoid the offwidth and blank section led her farther and farther up a featured face. She was above the traverse, the bolt, and in a bad situation. A swinging fall got her back onto the route proper. I congratulated her on making it this far without getting . She’s got a good head if she’s gotten this far without falling into this sort of mental trap.
We rapped down to the base for lunch and a reset. Since the weather was perfect it was no surprise that it was a crowded scene. Several parties were milling about, some arriving, some departing. Two very dirty dirtbags amused us fully, rolling up American Spirit spliffs while they asked everyone where the splitters were, and talked trash about various routes. We intervened once they devolved into a comedy routine about who should get the last of their water for the day. Apparently one of them was “good at being dehydrated” and so it was suggested he go without. We had extra, so nobody went thirsty.
They then proceeded to strugglefest up Dung Fu after talking big chimney game. As we soon learned, the one who could handle dehydration was also “good at sketchy situations”, and so the struggling leader built an anchor and brought him up to finish the chimney section. No judgment of these two, we just found them to be so amusing, and it was nice to see some folks roll in from the valley and feel a little flummoxed by J-Tree. This place is special.
We then shared a moment with Ethan and Alyssa, who were getting ready for Overseer next to us. Ethan was lamenting that he forgot to bring an apple, and we quickly handed one off to him, having packed extras for the day. Luckily it was a honey crisp, or he might have refused it. We laughed about how we were all apple snobs. They took off shortly afterwards, which allowed us to get a few shots of Ethan approaching the crux before we set out on our next climb.
Given our near-epic disaster last time, we decided we should give Funky Dung another go. We did it in two weird pitches, with an anchor to the left of the arete-ledge after the crux. It was awkward, but worked well enough. Emma hang-dogged through the crux, but managed to pull it eventually. I kept wondering if it might be possible to set up as a top rope so Emma could practice it more, but that would require some creativity for sure. We topped out to amazing light and views of the park, and headed over to the rap station.
Once on the ground we busted out our premixes and poured cocktails. Ethan was packing gear and Alyssa was almost off rappel so we asked if they wanted to join. Alyssa yelled down “Am I dreaming?” to the offer of a mezcal cocktail. Sunset drinks at Joshua Tree is one of our favorite pastimes.
We hiked out in the dark, still deep in discussion about whatever and everything. Later we texted and might attempt to share a campsite in January, if schedules allow.
We stopped at Sam’s on the way home for a delicious dinner, and then enjoyed minimal traffic on the drive home. It was a late end to a long day, but there was something special about being able to do Joshua Tree all within a day.
Hernie Hernie Hernie
5.8 – 100′
with Emma
Loose flake is ok, but pro is definitely heady/iffy.
Fun featured route.
Funky Dung
5.8 – 120′
with Emma
The crux is definitely tricky.
