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| Original photo by channone |
It took longer to get there from the coast than I had anticipated. According to Google Maps it was roughly two and a half hours of driving. We also stopped for some last minute groceries and then lunch which together added about an hour to the trip. So, our drive was three and a half almost four hours total.
When we rolled into the park Saturday afternoon we met up with some of my friends that happened to be milling around the campsite and went bouldering. It was a lot of fun and a good intro to climbing at JTree.
The rock in the park is very crystalline, so it has a lot of grip. It also does a number on baby soft hands like mine that aren't used to climbing. It didn't take many bouldering problems to fatigue my muscles and my hands. I wish I had brought some sort of pants to climb in too. Again, because of how abrasive the rock was, it didn't take much of a scrape to draw blood.
After bouldering my friends continued to climb, so my girl and I set up our camp. We have all the gear, but haven't really used it. It was fun to finally break it all out. Well, most of it any way.
My tent is an REI Quarter Dome 3 three person tent. It can be set up as foot print and fly only or the whole hog. It works really well for two people and gear inside the tent too with the floor space being square. We set that up then threw our pads and bags inside.
That evening people started to migrate back to the campsite and we started dinner. Oh My Word, what a feast it was. Prior to the weekend, one of my friends had stated that Saturday night was Taco Night. We had quite a smorgasbord of taco fixings; chicken, tri-tip, salsas of all kinds, chips, limes, cabbage, rice, beans, tortillas, and hot sauces. To wash it down we had all the alcohol you could imagine.
Once everyone ate, we wanted dessert in the desert. So, someone produced a cast iron dutch oven and the baking over an open fire began. We had two rounds of cinnamon rolls followed by cookies. They were all SO good.
After the dessert in the desert we proposed an adventure to go to The Chasm of Doom! It is this awesome fissure in this huge rock that you have to scramble up and down and through. It is done at night because there are plenty of places that are pitch black. The idea is to keep in physical contact with the person in front and behind you. Each person talks the next through the chasm. Only the leader of the group is allowed a headlamp.
The Chasm was a TON of fun. We had a nearly full moon blazing in the night sky, so there was plenty of light in the lit places. We also ended up with a group of 30 or so people doing the chasm in various stages of drunkenness. It made for some very funny moments during the adventure.
That ended the first night. Sleep never felt so good.
The next morning, since she had skipped the night time stroll, my girl wanted to go to The Chasm. So I led the day time stroll. I think it was actually a bit scarier in the day time because you could see how far down some of the cracks went. Some of the cracks were wide enough to fall into for sure.
After our adventure, we ate lunch and headed home. Three almost four hours later, we were home and TIRED. A shower and a nap and we felt almost normal.
It was a lot of fun and I cannot wait to do more.
Until next time,
Clayton
