Joshua Tree National Park

Shawn and I are currently spending the holidays at Joshua Tree National Park. We are doing a little rock climbing and bouldering. This always makes my mom nervous, but I'm quite conservative on the the rocks. Shawn on the other hand doesn't give up and has torn his hands and forarms to pieces. I don't think he could throw a frisbee right now if he wanted to.

The pictures you see on this page are of the two of us bouldering. Bouldering is an offshoot of rock climbing (that is much cheaper). Instead of all that expensive gear all you need is a pair of shoes, a chalk bag and it's also nice to have a bouldering pad. This is about a 4 inch thick cushion that you place underneith you when you climb. The climbs are called bouldering problems. And you generally don't get more than 18 feet of the ground. Not even that high in many cases. The idea is that you will fall on the mat if (when) you fall and thus prevent injury.

Joshua Tree is an incredibly unique place. There are more known climbs at this park than in any other in the world. I believe there are over 5000 named climbs. Below is a panoramic views of the park. The images were taken from an east outcropping of rocks looking back at the campsite.