Emily actually did it twice! Unfortunately, Caitlyn wasn't feeling it that day. She even had some trouble with the fourth class approach to the climb. She seemed too afraid to even get off the ground so she didn't end up climbing anything on this trip.
The wildflowers were blooming, so the beautiful flowers tucked in between the rocks are always a pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, we were also plagued by swarms of gnats the entire time, which made it a pretty unpleasant experience. The only time you were given a little respite from the annoying gnats was when you were in the shade (of which there was very little) and when you were at the top of the route where there might have been more wind.
After we each climbed Route 66 and we gave up on trying to get Caitlyn to climb, Christian tried a climb to the right, another 100' climb called Hit it Ethel (5.8).
It started up fine at the bottom, climbing up the steeper crack to a bit of a bulge. Pass the bulge was some really run out, steep face climbing. There was nothing to protect and the bolts were few and far between. Christian decided to retreat and come back down after he saw what the face climbing was like. He wasn't too happy about the situation. It was too risky.
Emily wanted to go back up Route 66, so she led the route a second time with Christian following. They rappelled down from the anchors at the top of Hit It Ethel and Christian top roped Hit It Ethel.
It is also getting pretty hot in Joshua Tree. Between the heat and the gnats, we had had enough of Gilligan's Island and decided to head back. I might also add, that there were vultures circling above us for a while. At first, we were excited because we thought that they were eagles, but upon closer inspection, we found that they were actually vultures! After we hiked most of the way back to the car, Christian thought that we might try a route on in a different area, closer to the car, to see if the conditions were better, since we still had a good amount of daylight left.
Unfortunately, we ran into some other plagues on the way, namely rattlesnakes. They were sitting right next to the trail, one after the other. The first one rattled at Christian and he stopped abruptly and jumped back. It was right on the edge of the trail. The girls had already gone by, so we did not know if they even saw it!
The second was just off the trail a bit further up. Some other hikers had warned the girls of them and they stopped to alert us.
Our nerves were a bit frazzled at that point and we decided to just call it a day.
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