Joshua Tree

This last Monday we ventured from our two week journey down the coast to spend a few days in Joshua Tree.  Thoughts of lizarding on warm rocks in the sun after the previous week's storm sounded fantastic!

A home base at Hidden Valley campground set us up for great access to surrounding climbs, hiking and biking.  It was a treat to visit the park together for the first time.  We had both been years before and had a blast reminiscing...especially Graham.  It seemed every crag we passed had a good story.  While the wind picked up pretty good by mid-morning each day, the sun kept it warm enough to enjoy getting on the rock.  By evening we retreated to the bus to shelter from the wind as the temperatures dropped each night (low of 25 degrees Wednesday morning - Yow!), made some fun food discoveries (pizza on our grill!), and talked about the next leg.    

During our first climb on Echo Rock (Stichter Quits) we met this great family from New York on a week-long vacation to J. Tree.  The dad, hadn't been climbing in 15 years since the birth of his daughter and was really excited to have the opportunity to share his passion with his two kids for the first time in his old climbing stomping grounds.

By the end of the week we had run into them three times at various places around the park.  At our last random meeting in the Wonderland they generously invited us to their vacation rental just outside the park to enjoy their showers and hot tub.  How could we resist!  I think they took pity on us!  Did we really smell that bad!?

We took them up on their offer and planned a meeting time at their vacation rental later that evening.
After a very short time we realized we were in great company with two professors from Ithaca and their two great kids.  We learned the dad had spent quite some time in J. Tree in the 80s and had also climbed extensively throughout the Sierra - climbs like Clyde Minaret...WOW!  He had even brush elbows with Gaylen Rowell.  Over a game of Trivial Pursuit (try playing with a history and literature professors!) we made some great connections realizing he had taught a friend of mine who attended Deep Springs College.  We enjoyed sharing our travel plans with them. and REALLY enjoyed a good soak in the hot tub!

The generosity and great positive interaction with strangers amazes us!

As we left the park and thought about that great family we had met, visions of future climbing trips to Joshua Tree with our friends and their families definitely crossed our minds.  Just have to wait until those twins get a little older!  What a fantastic playland it will be!

Today we're on the road to the Mojave Preserve after camping on BLM land outside of Joshua Tree to weather the last little storm before moving on.  Rather than our initial plan to head for Carrizo Plain, we've decided to stick to the desert for a few more day.  It actually snowed last night!  Though I guess we can't say much after talking to my folks in Meadow Valley who are still digging out after the last dumps of nice February Sierran Snow.  Skiing here we come!  First, a little more sun and warmth!

Big Sur and Friends along the Coast

After a nice visit with folks in Santa Cruz for the second week of February, we continued our journey southward headed for some great backpacking and camping in Big Sur for the following week. Our plan was to backpack into Sykes Hot Springs on the Big Sur River- an 11 mile hike- before the forecasted storms arrived. We arrived at the trailhead a little later than planned, and were only able to make it about 5 miles to Terrace Creek Camp before nightfall. The camp and trail were very crowded, with lots of people enjoying the last of the unseasonably warm weather. Continuing our hike the next morning, we were amazed to count ~60 people exiting Sykes (yikes!) in various groups, but we were only slightly distracted from signs of the Basin Complex Fire that burned much of the area two years ago. There was lots of open sky along the route with Oak and Madrone carcass silhouettes. The larger Redwood trees that had burned were regenerating lower on their trunks, but had intact crown structures, resulting in strangely inverted tree shapes.

We arrived at Sykes mid-afternoon, thankfully minus the 60 people that were there the night before. A short soak that afternoon was followed by a nice fire, dinner, and a longer soak after nightfall. The moon was half full, and shone brightly on the picture-perfect streamside springs. They had been notably improved since my last visit, now with three pools, two of which were rock- and cement-walled on bedrock! We slept well that night, but awoke early the next morning.

The pitter-patter of raindrops on nylon started just before dawn, and grew to a downpour by morning. We packed and hiked out through a beautiful mix of misty views, rain soaked clothes, and watery trails. All of the water lovers were out that morning: we must have past several hundred newts and banana slugs on the trail!

From the trailhead, we drove straight to our campsite at Kirk Creek Campground, where we were to stay for the next 4 nights. The coastline was beautiful, and as the storm started to break that afternoon, we realized what a treat we had in store for us. For the next four days, although we endured some serious weather, we watched dolphins and sea otters play in the surf right below our camp.

We departed at the end of the week, headed for San Luis Obispo. For our last night, we were treated to a major storm system, with high winds and surf and incessant, heavy rainfall. By Friday morning, most of Highway 1 from Gorda south to Ragged Point (about a 20 mile stretch) was a one-lane road, with slides blocking the northbound lane every 1/4 mile. Nonetheless, we arrived safely at GoWesty, our next destination and a sort of Nirvana for VW Westfalia owners.


GoWesty did some nice upgrades to Goldi, including adding a little lift provided by their progressive springs and replacing the fuel lines. The lift should be nice for Alaska and Baja adventures... stay tuned! It was President's Day Weekend already, and we were happy be staying with our friends Bob and Jamie, and their adorable 10-month old twins Oscar and Albert. While we were waiting for work on Goldi to be finished, we were happy to join Bob for a productive mushroom hunt, which produced Chantrelles that were a nice compliment to Jamie's mixed grain and vegetable dish that night. We felt great after showering and a good nights rest out of the weather, and Goldi handled nicely after getting her lift.

We finished up the holiday weekend by continuing south to Ventura, to visit Blake, Kate, their two year old daughter Lucy, and newborn twins Madeline and Mitch. The nasty weather continued on the drive down, but broke for a nice day that we spent at the Ojai farmer's market and the Ventura coastline.   Amidst an amazing continuous cycle of burping, feeding, changing, and sleeping we enjoyed fun time with Lucy, great home time with the gang, and a little venture on our bikes to the beach.  We also enjoyed getting to know Becky (Kate's cousin from Chicago who was there to offer the much needed "fifth hand".

On this leg of the journey, I realized that we were getting far enough from Reno to visit our wonderful friends that we don't get to see that often. I also realized how lucky we were to know these folks, and to see that they had become fine parents to such beautiful children. At any rate, just as everyone was headed back home from the weekend, we were leaving gracious company for the wilds of Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert.

Bay Area Visit

After spending the night in Sacramento with Jeff, Sarah, and Carson, we headed for the Bay Area to visit with friends and family, and take in some incredibly sunny weather for this time of year. Our first visit was with Bryan and Anna, who, with their adorable 3-month-old son Zachary, graciously hosted us for the night. So many new babies among our friends!

The following two nights were spent with Kristen's cousin Annie and her husband Russ, and then our friends John and Chris, who recently returned from their honeymoon to Argentina and Chile. It was great to see everyone, and also to see photos that reminded us of our own honeymoon to some of the same places last year. The strong urge to head southbound kept us from lingering in the North Bay, although on our way to San Francisco we swung by the Wildflower Bakery and Point Reyes National Seashore, where we enjoyed beautiful Kelham Beach all by ourselves on a sunny 76 degree day on Super Bowl Sunday!

We looked forward to visiting with my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Pilar in San Francisco. We were, however, decidedly not happy about parking our Goldi on the street in the city, but we had to. We stripped off everything of value (bikes, skis, laptops, etc.) and parked her, closing all of the curtains and hoping for the best. Everything worked out fine, and in addition to eating some great food in the city and seeing some great landmarks (De Young Museum, Twin Peaks, etc.), we rode across the city and Golden Gate Bridge on bikes on a picture perfect day before departing for Santa Cruz.

The drive down Highway 1 to Santa Cruz was even more breath-taking than usual, thanks to the enduring spell of warm, dry weather. We stayed several nights in Santa Cruz, visiting our friends Mike, Leilani, their two-year-old son Noah. Despite the dry weather, we were able to find some great Chantrelle mushrooms to top a delicious pizza! We also visited with the Cranston family (thanks for the hospitality Jim, Candace, Freya and Fletcher), and Anthony and Anna in the hills above Aptos, who generously gave us some homemade health products from their Aptos Apriaries beekeeping venture. The bees had obviously been enjoying the warm weather too! Our southbound journey was to continue- it was unclear if the spell of nice weather would too.

A Reno Farewell

How to say goodbye to such a great a great group of friends, a great house, and good job?!  The closer it got, the harder it got.  We found our selves wrapped up in a swirl of emotions.  A mix between excitement and unease.  "Wooohooo!", "What are we thinking!", and "It's really happening!" were common shared phrases the last few days before leaving.

After months of talking about this great road venture in a mythical VW bus...we had finally made the decision.  We squirreled our pennies away, bought a bus, and began to start making our dream a reality.  Little did we know it would be such a challenge to leave Reno, our home for the last 4 1/2 years.  Perhaps easier to leave knowing we would be back for a visit in 6 weeks. 

On February 2nd a couple days post our planned departure (took a couple days longer to pack than we thought!), we departed....set sails and were adrift with no plans to set anchor for quite some time.

One evening before we left, we enjoyed a Reno sunset with our good friend Amy in the hills.  She captured some great shots.  Here photography is incredible!  She has captured so many events in the lives of our friends.  Check out her blog here: http://www.amyleistphoto.com/blog/blog/

 

First stop via a little ski on Donner Summit: Sacramento to visit friends Jeff and Sara and their new little one Carson....and there sweet pup Dora.