Joshua Tree Redoux

The beginning of the new school year is upon us again. We went in for Emily's registration day We waited in line to turn in a packet of forms and take her picture for her school ID and that is about it. They did not have a schedule for her so none of the kids knew what their class schedule was going to be. They did not even have the chrome books ready to issue to the 8th graders. I am continually dismayed at how unorganized the school is. It is no wonder the school, as a whole, is doing so badly.

Caitlyn had to wait until the Friday just before the school year is to begin to find out what class she is in. She is going to be in the same class as Emily was in 6th grade so she is pretty happy about that.

We wanted to do one last thing before returning to school but I have been sick for the past three weeks, plus our oven stopped working and Christian had to order a piece to fix it. We were afraid that we would have to replace the whole thing which was going to be a pretty hefty amount. Luckily, Christian figured it out and it ended up being a fairly easy fix. The ignitor was dead. Anyway, with me not feeling well and us not knowing whether we could even afford to go anywhere else, we ended up canceling our last camping trip.

Despite the heat, we ended up in Joshua Tree, yet again for our last hurrah before school began. We went back to Trashcan rock as it is close and has shade in the mornings (at least on the west face). We climbed three routes before lunch. The first one was Eschar (5.4), a short 30' route. We sport led this one on Christian's gear. Emily did it twice!

The next one was a 40' route called Walkway (5.4).

And we finished with another 40' route called Tulip (5.6). We all top roped these last two routes as there was not always good places to put in any protection. Christian also went up Baby-Point-Five (5.9) although he needed a little help getting on the route. The start of the route was ridiculously difficult, even for a 5.9. He also attempted Bimbo (5.10a).

All in all, we had a pretty productive morning climbing but we had lost most of our shade by now and headed into town to check on a few things at the mountain shop.

Afterwards, we headed back in to the park and ended up at the east face of Left Hand of Darkness. We climbed up a 50' route called Granny Goose (5.7). It was a pretty fun route with underclings and a short off-width section. Emily went up this route twice as well. Once on top rope and then again while sport leading the route. I just top roped it but Caitlyn did not really want to do it. Christian got her up most of the way but she would not finish it and he ended up letting her down.

We still had some daylight left, so we decided to top rope Mother Goose (5.6) as well, which is a 50' route with little or no protectable areas up next to Granny Goose. After stalling on Granny Goose, Caitlyn did not want to even attempt Granny Goose even though technically, it is an easier route.