This is the longest I've spent in one place in five months...
I'm starting to freak out, it's time to get away...
Luckily my old friends Melissa & Mike, who now live in Tucson, have planned a get-together in one of my favorite places, Joshua Tree National Park. Even more fortunate, Dorothy has the entire week off for Spring Break. We packed the truck & departed the morning of April 8th, our first stop was Big Bear, I was hunting for the perfect jacket for Rainier in these mountain towns since the San Diego area had packed all of their cold weather gear up for the springtime.
No luck up here either, this area only sells ski gear which is totally different from what I’m looking for, I found the one mountaineer supply store and he said my best bet would be in the town of Joshua Tree, another Nomad Ventures I had already planned on checking out. Once Dorothy & I stopped by a few more shops & the resorts we started our eastward drive toward the Mojave Desert.When we were about to start down the grade, while searching for random wood we found a nice couple who were building a log cabin, they directed us to their current residence where we loaded the truck with as much fuel for a fire it could hold. At 8000 feet the mountains were freezing, we had already abandoned our original plan to camp that night in Holcomb Valley (near Big Bear City) & it wasn’t hard to predict that even in the desert, wherever we set camp would be a cold one. Down out of the north side of the San Bernardino Nat’l Forest we went, a very easy way since we were only dropping a few thousand feet, just over an hour later we were at Vons in Yucca Valley stocking up with food, water & booze for the next five days. After this I made a final stop at the two different Joshua Tree outfitters and although Nomad had a jacket that would suffice, I decided then and there to drop the loot on exactly what I was looking for with Patagonia directly.
We were the first to arrive at Jumbo Rocks Campground, our intended home for the next few days, and since we were arriving so late in the afternoon it seemed pretty bleak that we would be able to score even two of the hoped for five campsites in the same general vicinity. We made camp that night in a loop that seemed like it might clear out.
After unloading the truck and making camp we had some dinner, some wine, and started walking around the sites checking the tags for departure dates… it wasn’t looking good for this loop. Anyway we drank a bunch of wine, spoke with a neighbor for a bit and eventually passed out on what turned into being the coldest night of our stay. (We slept right through it, yeah Vino!) The next morning we both got up and started roaming through some of the other loops, 
the next one over was clearing out and after speaking with some of its inhabitants this turned out to be the place, campsites 20 – 24. We moved our site into the middle of it all and started blocking parking spots and dropping random gear on all the picnic tables. No worries, it was time to do some of that chillin’ we had been looking forward to. I rode my dirt bike around a little to search for a cell signal (no luck) and eventually took my truck out to the park boundary for a call to Melissa & AA sometime in the afternoon. I got through and let them know where we were, asked that an email be sent to the group with my weather update/location and came back to Jumbo. I decided no more driving since that roundtrip took almost two hours. (I had also called Patagonia to order that jacket ;) It was time for a beer. It was also time for Andie & Taj from Sherman Oaks to arrive, good timing too since I was tired of getting the evil eye from everyone driving by that were searching out sites for the Easter weekend. While she unloaded her car we entertained her soon to be six-year-old son (the next day was his birthday) on the rocks, I had wanted to check out this one spot all evening and since someone else was now occupying 20-24 we were good to go. 
We had a blast roaming next to the giant monoliths as the sun went down, J-Tree is just one big playground and if you have a headlight the darkness can be just as exciting. That evening we roasted some Hebrew Nationals over our fire while waiting for Mike, Melissa, Maggie (11) & the newest addition at six months old, Melody. Andie had enlightened us that a few more people had dropped out due to weather concerns and I had judged that the 4M’s would be arriving around midnight, I think they beat that guestimate by an hour or two. 
They arrived with a packed car and we all assisted however we could while reacquainting ourselves and watching out for the children. After getting everything set up & a few more logs on the fire we called it a night.
The next day after another good nights sleep Mike & I took off to the Split Rock Area to climb a few decent pitches and do some recon for the kids climbing planned for the following morning. A few hours later we were back and others had arrived, my old friends Missy & Nick had flown to LA from Northern Cali and arrived by rental car. After that Pat & Mike showed up from OB and then from San Luis Obispo Lisa, Dominique, their two year old daughter Lucy & five year old Luna (Missy & Nicks daughter). Eventually Adam & Danielle arrived from San Diego & after getting everyone’s tents set up, cars unloaded & witnessing a beautiful sunset... 
we got down to some serious drinkin’ – Vodka seemed to be the most popular since the wind had seriously picked up when the sun was going down. It was a good night with lot’s a reminiscing and laughter, the crew one by one drifted back to their tents as I eventually did, although I don’t remember.
The next day (Saturday) we woke up late (or just in time) for breakfast, Josh (Andie’s Man, also from Sherman Oaks) & his bro Chris (San Diego) had arrived late night, this morning it was time to set up a rope for the kids to play around on.
Mike and I did that across the street and finally AA, Jenny & their two year old daughter Lilyana arrived to make our party/reunion complete. After a few hours of climbing Mike & I did another more difficult route that his daughter free-soloed around to meet him at the top of, she’s gonna be good. After that we made it back for some happy hour brews and sandwiches with AA & his ladies. 
They were only there for the day and unfortunately they left as the sun was going down. A little later we got together for dinner, most peeps had brought taco fixin’s, then the night becomes blurry again. I know there wasn’t much hard stuff involved since we’d drank most of it the night before but there was plenty of beer & picture taking. The last thing I remember from that evening is the mom’s handing us all egg’s and telling us to hide them around the campsite for Easter morning.
Sunday arrived and with it another beautiful day, we got pretty lucky with the weather since all it ever did was threaten & get a little chilly, no gale force winds or torrential downpours to endure this time around making Mike & Melissa’s 1st wedding anniversary/reunion a smashing success. 
We had one more stint of climbing for the grown-ups at intersection rock before heading back to San Diego for a quick shower and turnaround to my sister’s house for Easter Dinner. After getting there late and realizing we were exhausted we thanked them for the food and made our way home for some couch time and an early night. 
The next few days I did some more studying, organized my pictures from the weekend and prepared for Jablow & I’s annual “End of Tax Season” Retreat, this year we were going to need crampons since our goal was the summit of Mount San Jacinto and it had four feet of snow on top of it. On April 15th our friend Dave showed up and started us on the sauce a little early, eventually we joined up with Jablow, Pat & some others for some food at the Arizona Café & drinks at Tony’s – I called it an early night since I was stoked to get out of town and start testing my new gear the next day.
April 16th arrived; I woke Jablow up in our spare room and got on the road north and east towards Idyllwild. 
After picking up supplies and obtaining our permit we parked the car, packed our bags and started the four mile uphill to Strawberry Junction, our intended campsite for the night. It was brutal with a hangover and an exceptionally heavy pack since I was carrying my new ice boots, so once we found our site it was time to chill. The next morning I donned a somewhat heavy pack & put on my new plastic ice boots for the 5.5 mile hike to the summit. This was also brutal, the boot itself was burly but I came to the conclusion that if I’m walking on flats & rocks, rather than straight uphill in the snow, I need a more flexible ankle. We attached our crampons
and after what seemed like forever finally made it to the top for some hot noodles and a view of Palm Springs & her golf courses, the Coachella Valley with its hundreds of windmills& the desert that is Joshua Tree. Because it was so clear I could actually pick out different familiar rock formations within the park, I had been on San Jacinto twice before and had never seen so clearly! The summertime smog has kept me blind to this spectacle & now 
I’m feeling even more inspired to make winter ascents of these southern peaks. Since the sun was waning we started our descent, we had taken too long to summit so we had to boogie down the mountain. Crampons are fun and make one feel much stronger when pushing through heavy snow. 
Glissading is the mountaineering term for sliding down the mountain on your ass using an ice ax or trekking pole to stop yourself if you get going too fast, we experimented. After an hour or so we knew we would be good since we had found the trail and the GPS had not let us down. We filled up our water at a spring and made it back to our camp just after dark, slammed a flask of tequila Jablow had brought along and made some veggies with couscous for dinner.
The next morning my feet were sore. Most everything I had brought along to “test” had worked out; the pants, jackets, socks, climbing, cooking & sleeping systems were doing well but one thing was troubling me, I had formed “hot spots” on my shins from rubbing in my boots. I decided to wear the new boots the rest of the four miles down to the car for additional breaking in, now I formed blisters on my shins, great. This was why I was out here, to figure out what works and what doesn’t… I decided that overall I was doing OK but I needed to address other footwear options so my first priority upon returning would be researching that. Now it was time to check out the Stone World Bistro & Gardens, a newer establishment in Escondido and an expansion from one of my favorite local breweries. A few hours, a damn fine burger and many dark beers later we were basking in the sunshine of a wonderful Saturday afternoon. 
That evening, after a nice nap, I organized my pictures from the last few days and had a great nights sleep in what I’m truly appreciating as my own bed these days.
Life is funny, and this lifestyle is extremely liberating, big plans are getting made and decisions about what comes next are cropping up more and more often. April 20th is a day Dorota & I have designated to celebrate our anniversary, it’s been longer but in the beginning we had some “complications,” for lack of a better word, so exactly when has never been truly distinguished. That day we spoke about it, the conclusion that we came up with is that this summer may be our last summer (for a while) to “play” – I’m hoping to be employed and with that I may lose these freedoms, we spoke about engagement, marriage, a new place to live, children, the Future in general, our future together, we decided to take full advantage of her summer break. In my entire career summer’s have never been an easy time to take more than a week off, it’s my profession, nights and weekends become the norm and summer breaks are for the tenured. I don’t have a lot of money left but I do have the time and (I know your tired of hearing this) “you only live once” – we’re going to southern Mexico and Central America for three weeks. From Cancun we’ll be flying to Norfolk, Virginia for a week on the Outer Banks, and eventually spending a few weeks in Pennsylvania & New Jersey (where we’re from) with friends and family. After that I should be ready for work, since Alaska fell off the drawing board I’ve been looking to fill that gap and now I’ve done it with the one person I consistently feel bad about leaving.
I’m worried about my feet, my shins now have scabs from the weekend’s abuse and I’m not any closer to a solution. Long story short, after stressin’ for two days I’ve decided to buy an additional pair of synthetic “leather” boots with a little more flexibility than the plastics. Of course I can’t afford it but the beauty of REI is their return policy, and trust me at least one of these pairs of boots are going back.
Today we received a call from the Ranger assigned to our parties reservation, seems our determination to do a the classic route “Liberty Ridge” is not as easy as we thought, an additional 13 miles hiking each way may be required since the road may be closed at the park boundary. Mount Rainer National Park had plenty of snow this winter, awesome, I guess the good part is this isn’t my problem and it just adds that much more excitement. I’ll keep doing research, studying my rescue techniques and training whenever possible. I’m doing a bike & camp trip on Mount Laguna finishing up on the Noble Canyon trail this weekend, good cardio, my lungs need all the help they can get. After that I have less than a week before my departure, I’ll keep up the cardio & studying, eat lots of carbs, make sure all of my bills are handled and verify I have every possible piece of equipment necessary to help me get up this enormous climb.
It's surreal; Rainier will be the most physically demanding climb of my life and within a week of returning I’ll be traveling through India & Nepal on my way to Everest Base Camp, a walk-up requiring no special equipment, to hopefully witness the “Roof of the World.”
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