Download Southern LA Trip Document
The plan, as written, was to
have the parents drop me at the airport at 5am after a good night's rest, but
my trips rarely go as planned and that is the fun part. I ended up staying up all
night hanging out with friends and rushed to the airport in the wee hours of
the morning, changing clothes in the cell phone lot. I made the flight a few
minutes before doors closed and settled in for a nap. I really don’t sleep well
on planes because I move a lot when sleeping and always concerned I will punch
the person next to me inadvertently. Don’t get me started on the seat recline etiquette,
but that pretty much eliminated my ability to rest my head on the tray top.
Around noon I ended up at LAX and had a couple hours to kill since my brother
runs on his own agenda.
I grabbed my pack and started
walking to LA. I ended up scaling a 6 foot fence, throwing my pack over at the
feet of a cop. He was wondering what I was doing, and I had to wonder myself as
I don’t really know why I was urban hiking. We parted ways and I kept up the
search for a watering hole. I passed some construction workers who offered my
some food and water, it doesn’t take much for me to look homeless I guess. I
found a restaurant, met my brother, had lunch, spilled half of it on my clothes
and we were off to Joshua Tree. Along the way we got lost and wandered into a
wind farm. It was quite impressive, but also pretty ugly as they dominated the
whole landscape.
We pulled into the park and
the ranger said that all the campsites were taken and that we might have to
backcountry camp for free, that would not be a problem, considering all that it
required was walking 1 mile from the road, and by 1 mile I mean 1000 yards. The
park is named for the tree that dominates the landscape. Here is good shot of
one, if you want to read more about the tree, here is a link.
Here is a park map, we came
in from the Northwest entrance.
It was getting dark so we
wanted to hit the Keys View for sunset before setting up camp. The view was
incredible, spoiled only by the hippies hooking up on a bench at the
overlook.
It got dark quickly and we
were left struggling to find the backcountry parking area. Once we got our
bearings we packed up enough for the night and headed out. We walked for a bit until
finding a group of boulders for shelter. I made us some dinner, had a few pulls
from the flask, commented on the stars and climbed into bed.
At this point I will describe
my new camping habits. Over the years I have become an ultra-light backpacker.
Starting with everything possible in my pack a few years ago to basically a
sleeping pad and cotton fleece sack today
I figured this is
Around 5am, the sun was
rising but wasn’t not gonna reach us for another hour. I decided to hike up a
nearby hill to get some exposure and warmth. It was amazing what sunlight can
do, within 30 minutes I was shirtless and sweating.
I returned and cooked some
breakfast and was actually feeling pretty good. We got back to the car and
decided to hike an unpublished trail called the Maze that I found on the
Internet
We found the trailhead and
about 100 yards in a rattlesnake crossed our path, all coiled up and rattling
away. Needless to say he was pissed. I could not get my camera out in time, but
here is a shot of the bush he is in.
This was not an episode of
Man vs Wild. I was not going to pull him out, risking my life for a shot. We
continued on the wash trail and eventually got lost.
We figured we should just get
to high ground not because we thought that was the best thing to do to scan the
area, but rather we wanted some excitement. We got pretty high and I had my
brother climb out on a rock to get what I think are a couple pretty cool shots
My brother has a framed picture of himself climbing Mt Washington. I figured he could blow up the one below and put it in his bedroom so that he can look at himself all the time.
Actually, when we did get to
the top, we found the trail and reconnected with it. It was pretty cake from
there. We were glad we got lost because it gave us a chance to boulder which in
a park like Joshua, with all these fragmented rocks, is an incredible
adventure.
We got back to the car after
the quick 7 mile hike. I should mention that after we saw the snake we were
very aware of every bush and every movement. The bitch of it is that there are
thousands of lizards around and your fight or flight response kicks in faster
than your brain can process the origin of the movement.
We had another 10 mile out
and back hike ahead of us, but randomly decided to go bouldering instead. We
saw some people rappelling from rocks and started heading up a different path
You can see them coming off
the rock face in this shot
It was a pretty cool experience
because instead of just blindly following a trail you need to use your brain a
bit to plan out a route. You can see our cars in the distance from this shot
from the top
Here are a few shots of my
brother making his way around the rocks. The shot where he is coming through
the cave is pretty interesting. When you decide to climb a route you sometimes
wonder if there will be a dead end ahead because coming back the same way might
not be possible..ie..your screwed. Each time we thought there was a dead end
there was this cave or ledge that led to the next opportunity. Without getting
philosophical, it reminded me of life as I was climbing, each time you think
you are at a dead end, a new path emerges.
We got done around 4pm and
headed back to his apartment for some soaking in the hot tub at the big pool.
We were supposed to hike a mountain the next day but opted for an urban
adventure around the
Until Tomorrow
Darren