I'd only been to Joshua Tree National Park three times, all over Thanksgiving weekend. But my buddy Justin and I had some time over Veteran's Day to road trip down there this year, so on Thursday we made the long drive down from the SF Bay area through Bakersfield and Barstow and the high desert to teh Jtree.

First stop on Friday was the Center of the Known Universe, aka Intersection Rock. We decided to get calibrated on Mike's Books (5.6) and Justin took the first lead -


The second pitch was wide fun .. I'd followed it once before, but it was still a grunt, and the #4 camalot came in handy.



We took in the views from the top of Intersection Rock, rapped off and had lunch :) What next .. ah yes, the infamous Toe Jam (5.7) ! We only had to wait in line for one party, and it was just as fun as I remember it.


I was in the mood to climb a couple of lines on Hemingway Buttress, and as luck would have it the afternoon shade had chased off all but one party which was way over on the right toproping some 5.11 thing.


I got on White Lightning (5.7) -


Thoroughly enjoyable, and my first time leading it. Next up was Dung Fu (5.7), which I'd only seen someone leading once (accompanied by much cursing and complaining). I thought it was fun ! The chimney moves were a little awkward, but nothing too difficult.


By now darkness was spreading across the land, so we decided it was time to head for the Thai place in town (which unfortunately had not yet opened their buffet for the season).


Saturday morning we headed out to Echo Rock, the site of my first lead at Jtree. Justin started up Double Dip (5.6) --


The hordes arrived just as we walked back to our packs. We waited in line for Stichter Quits aka Black Tide (5.7), which I led after falling on the first bolt a few times.


Lunchtime again :) It was time to revisit the Dairy Queen Wall. We arrived to find parties on the climbs I wanted to do, but again the afternoon shade chased them away. We joked that it was good alpine training, hahaha. I started up Frosty Cone (5.7) -


This one felt less like a crack climb than a crack-protected jug haul, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. Next up was Mr. Misty Kiss (5.8 in the new guide, 5.7 in the old), on which I'd caught a lead fall five years ago.


It was pretty challenging for me, but I made it. Phew ! Last climb of the day was Scrumdillyishus (5.7)


This one had more jams than Frosty Cone, and was a little tricky getting around the overhung section. Good times. We decided to check out the Mexican food at Edchada's in 29 Palms.

Sunday our plan was to make the hike in to Lenticular Dome in the Wonderland of Rocks. We shouldered our packs, laden with double ropes and too much gear and headed out.





After scrambling up through the maze of huge boulders surrounding the dome we were pleased to discover that nobody else was on Mental Physics (5.7+) -- hooray ! Up we went.



I thought about doing the second pitch, but we hadn't brought our approach shoes up with us, and weren't sure if there was a rap anchor up top. So we called it good. I brought way too much gear -- it was a romp !

As we coiled our ropes a party started scrambling up the boulders. On the hike out we encountered a large group heading for the dome .. good thing we got an early start :)

After getting back to the parking lot we decided to go check out Headstone Rock in the afternoon.




The SW Corner was everything I'd read about -- fantastic exposure and fun climbing. We decided to leave Cryptic (5.8) for another day, though it looked enjoyable.

It was a warm day, but the wind was picking up. Justin decided to go check out Cap Rock in memory of Gram Parsons and we started off on the long drive home.