This is Part 4 of 4 !!!Well, the week was pretty much in the can. After a leaky water faucet on the washer machine blew our Friday afternoon climbing (waiting for the plumber guy to show up), we vowed that we would get some climbing in before we had to head back to Phoenix on Saturday!Felicia declared it a day to work on our friction footwork, so we headed over to Echo Rock. This is one of the most popular places to climb in the Park, but this being the shoulder-season and all, we found ourselves over there alone with no other climbers in sight.
Full panorama of the west side of Echo Rock.
We did a little reintroduction to the friction properties of rubber on Double Dip, an easy classic route on the left side of Echo Rock. This is Felicia paddling up the last 25 feet of the route.
The view from the top of Double Dip looking back towards the parking lot.
We scrambled back down off the back after climbing Double Dip. While we were scrambling off, Felicia screamed when a bee nailed her on the lower neck-shoulder area. Given that this area would have pretty much all Africanized bees, we were at least thankful the stinger didn't bring any friends.
Hiking back around to our packs at the base of the route.
Exploded and expired Joshua Tree.
Nice scenery...
This is a shot looking up at our next route, Black Tide (aka Stichter Quits), that follows the obvious black ridge. Still moderate, the route has become harder over the years as the rock becomes a little polished from so many climbers. Good footwork practice though! We sent that thing no prob.
Felicia coming up the upper part of Black Tide. It's a little runout at the top, something I didn't help by missing the last bolt somewhere down there around where Felicia is in this picture.
Felicia moving over to the prominent ridge of Black Tide on her way to the top.
A little ridge-running near the top of Black Tide.
We were running out of time and the heat was climbing quickly, so we headed over to Forbidden Paradise, a stiff friction route to the right of Black Tide. This one would give us sore feet and blown calves!
Felicia headed up Forbidden Paradise. The angle is deceptive. There is NOTHING to stand on other than just friction on the rock here.
Felicia a little higher on Forbidden Paradise. One of the few bits where there's a little crack to hang onto.
The route gets a little steeper as you move up it. Felicia's about to pull over a small roof here, a long, delicate move with very little to hold onto.
Felicia rappelling off Forbidden Paradise. We were out of time, but we got a nice re-introduction to using our feet on the unique friction routes of Joshua Tree. We'll be back!
Pretty place to climb, and even better when you can enjoy it when it's not crowded with people!
Time to head for home!
This is Part 2 of 4 !!So... the week continued. Seems like we would get up in the morning and be moving pretty non-stop until evening doing one thing or another. We used to give Susan crap about how they never seemed to eat until 8pm every night, then we found out that it was nearly impossible to eat before then most nights. We stand corrected!
Tuesday, we got out climbing in the afternoon. It's warm enough this time of year that 1) you don't have to worry about other climbers, even on a weekend, and 2) you have to go to the areas where the routes are in the shade. This is approaching Hemmingway Buttress, home of nice routes that have afternoon shade. I didn't get any climbing shots here due to a gravitational anomaly (never got the camera off the ground).After a bit of climbing at Hemmingway, we decided to hoof back out to the car and head over to Hidden Valley Campground and enjoy the sunset from the top of Intersection Rock.
A shot to the south looking over at Saddle Rocks. This is one of only a few places in Joshua Tree that has multi-pitch routes (i.e. long routes). Some nice routes over there including Walk on the Wild Side, one of the nicest moderate routes in the Park.
To stay in the shade, we climbed up Intersection Rock via Mike's Books, a two pitch route with a 5.8 direct start that goes up two wide cracks. I did this route the first time in April of 1992 and I think it felt harder this time! Ugh! This is Felicia coming up the first pitch.
Felicia on the first pitch of Mike's Books.
Our timing was just a little off... as Felicia came up the second pitch, the sun went into the clouds on the horizon. No matter, we still caught the light show from the top.
Felicia coming up to the top of Intersection Rock on the second pitch of Mike's Books.
Spectacular sunset show from the top of Intersection Rock (photo obviously doesn't do it justice).
A panorama of Hidden Valley Campground from the top of Intersection Rock. Empty!
Sunset on top of Intersection Rock!
Felicia rappelling off Intersection Rock.
Wednesday, the fence guys showed up with a handful of posts, which they set in place and then headed on out. We were making progress, though!
My big assignment on Wednesday was to swap out the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. It took a trip to Home Depot, lots of sweat and some profanity, but I got it done in the end. This is my third ceiling fan installation this year. I really don't see it as a career, though.
While everything else was going on, I started working on this small addition to the retaining wall on the back porch to try to limit the erosion over there. I pounded these three foot rebar over a foot into the ground, then poured a footer for the blocks.
Footer curing. Blocks and rocks are just there to keep the form in place. Crude, but effective.
It rained off and on most of the day on Monday that was eroding the hill out front and by the garage, so our resident drainage expert headed out to set an advanced drainage channel that would direct water around the garage.
The fence guys showed up Thursday with another pile of posts and set them while we were headed down the hill to Palm Springs (the big city!) mid day on Thursday to do some shopping.
Lots and lots of huge wind turbines just outside of Palm Springs.
Lots...
