Nighttime Campsite
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
We’ve all had that feeling at one point or another in our lives, where we feel the aches of love and excitement. Whether it be the first time your parents tell you they’re taking you someplace magical like disneyland, or reuniting with an old friends or seeing a long lost love. We all exhibit the same physiological symptoms.
Tightness of chest, lump in your throat, a full body wave of tingling sensation as if you touched an electric horse fence. (Speaking from experience… when that happened I almost cried. More from the shock, not from the pain.)
This is how I feel about Joshua Tree. I mean I have similar feelings associated with many other climbing locations but there’s something different about Joshua Tree that makes my heart swell and eyes moisten. Given time to contemplate why, I concluded to this.
First Morning in Jtree
Joshua Tree is the first international place I went to climb on my own. It was the first place I met my friend Reed and it was my first climbing trip longer than a week. I guess it’s like driving for the first time once you succeeded in attaining your drivers license or the first time you kiss somebody. There’s a bond that forms that is permanent and as magical as it can get.
Joshua Tree also has it’s own significance. The trees that the park and town are named after only grow in unique altitudes and special conditions. Though some are hundreds of years old, they are also very fragile and can die easily if disturbed, or the weather changes drastically. The Joshua Tree National Park is a popular location not only for climbers, but hikers, star gazers, photographers, tourists and cyclists. Well really anything is possible in Joshua Tree… except for water related things as this is a desert.
J Tree Essentials
Either way, I encourage you to come visit, buy a pass support the park and spend a night or two camping out there… you will experience things you never thought possible. And if you can’t get out here… then stick around and I’ll be posting videos and photos when I return so you can share the experience through my heart and eyes.
Anyways, I’m here for another week and armed with my sport rack, crash pad and camera I’m off to find a climbing partner or go at it solo.