A Horse with No Name

Monday morning was a slow day, we spent most of it blogging, doing laundry, and chatting with Dan before we were ready to leave. At about 2:00 we were ready to leave and said goodbye to Dan and thanked him for his flexibility with us! We drove to Indio, 50 miles south of Joshua Tree National Park, because it was the only town in all of California with a First Bank! That night we slept in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, that is if you can call it sleeping. Most of the night Chris was awake due to the fact that we didn’t set up the Jeep for sleep, but it seemed that Lauren had been able to get a full nights rest regardless of that fact. In the morning we were finally able to cash the checks we had received from pear picking! Pay day at last! After the bank we drove directly to JTNP! If you are not aware, it is one of the best places in the country for bouldering! Needless to say, we were extremely excited! We entered the park from the south, and were surprised that we didn’t see a single Joshua tree, despite being the namesake of the park. Later we discovered that the southern part of the park is much drier and hotter than the higher elevations of the northern part, which is where the Joshua trees grow. We were first greeted in the park by a tarantula! Chris could see the tarantula immediately while it was crossing the road. Those spiders are huge! We took a short hike through a patch of Choilla cactus.

As we approached the center of the park, huge piles of granite several hundred feet high were left standing in the middle of the desert. Large boulders and Joshua trees were strewn all around the bases of the granite towers. This part of the park is where the bouldering is at its best! Knowing that we would be wasting our time trying to discover the problems on our own, we drove to the nearest town to find an outfitter. We rented a book for two days at a cost of $6. It was a great bargain considering that the cost of buying the guidebook would have been $37.50! As soon as we had our book we drove back into the park to do some climbing! The first place we tried was called Turtle Rock. We were quickly reminded that climbing in a gym does nothing to prepare you for the challenges of outdoor bouldering! The rock was sharp and didn’t take long to leave your hands raw and ripped up. As we made our way around Turtle Rock we discovered a cluster of boulders called So High. They better met our skill level, and ended up being a good place for us to climb because of the increased chance of completing the problems we started. Joshua Tree climbing also requires that you climb regularly over 20’ to top out a problem so a fall from that height even with a crash pad could be quite painful! Chris topped out several tall problems on a wedge shaped boulder called the wedge, and several other boulders nearby, before jokingly attempting a difficult problem. To his surprise the problem was doable for someone of his height and he completed it after about a half hour.

 After that we drove across the street to a boulder that we thought would be good to end on. It wasn’t at all! It was a lot of friction climbing which meant that you were bear hugging a rock with no handholds or foot holds. Lauren completed a couple of the problems before trying a neat crack problem on the same rock.  She completed it successfully! We both continued to climb as the sun began to sink in the sky. The sunset that night was phenomenal! Once the sun had set we drove out of the park and slept on some BLM land about 15 miles outside the park entrance. 

In the morning we drove to a cluster of boulders called Planet X. Chris climbed a pretty cool vertical crack to top out the 20’ rock, but had neglected to find a way down before he went up! Once at the top he was faced with what looked to be a super sketchy rappel point down the inverted portion of the rock or a jump onto a neighboring rock. After several minutes of pondering and the testing of the ropes security by Lauren down below, he opted to make the jump and made his way down safely! Whew!

 From there we headed to a boulder known as Dragon Scales, which Lauren had picked out. It looked much like you would expect it to, with lots of shallow cracks crisscrossing along its face to form what looked like scales. She completed the rock on her first attempt and topped out 23’ above the sandy floor! It was a super hot day, and we had been climbing for over two hours by the time we finished at Dragon Scale so we headed back to the car to eat and get some water. 

We planned to take a break from bouldering by hiking to Barkers Dam and driving to an overlook of the San Andreas Fault line. We did the overlook first, took pictures and began driving to the trailhead. The Barker Dam was very interesting because it explained many of the adaptations that the desert plants had that allowed them to survive in the Mojave Desert. Cattle ranchers, to contain rainwater, built the dam back at the beginning of the century. Soon after the dam was complete the climate became drier and all the grasses in the area died forcing the ranchers to move on. There was a little bit of water in the dam but not much since the park had not received rain in several years! 

When we got back to the car we picked one more boulder to climb based on the recommendations of the outfitter we rented the guidebook from. It was called Pinhead! This was Laurens favorite climb by far! The first problem she did took some perseverance on her part, as she had to try several maneuvers before finally climbing over the bulge. The second problem she tried was a difficult route up one side fairly smoothly before reaching the top and hauling herself over it extremely awkwardly. It was pretty funny to watch! Chris did the same problem with only a slightly less awkward top out, before he attempted a crack climb to the top of the 16’ boulder. Although completed successfully he definitely would not win any style points! Both of us had a ton of fun bouldering in Joshua tree, but we could use some work on our gracefulness!

 After Pinhead, we used the remaining evening light to get a start on the trek to Grand Canyon. It was a long night of driving, covering over 250 miles, to get from Southern California, to Northern Arizona. As we drove through Arizona we noticed a lot of great Arizona state signs, but we decided it would be better to take the pictures in the day when we would leave to go to Utah. We arrived in Williams at about 1:00 in the morning and passed out in a parking lot next to Safeway. After shopping for some groceries in the morning we drove a portion of Historic Route 66 as it passed out of Williams and on towards the Grand Canyon! 

We arrived at the Grand Canyon before noon, and made lunch in the Visitor Center Parking lot. The Rangers at the Visitor Center highlighted some hikes we could do while we were there for two days and from there we set out on the Rim Trail! The views were awesome, but because we did not have the time or resources to make a journey into the inner canyon, the Grand Canyon felt a little bit like a let down. We spent several hours walking the Rim Trail and reading about the origins of the rock found striated along the canyon walls. To most people that probably sounds boring, but for some reason both of us love geology and learning about what type of rocks were found in the canyon and how the geologic forces acted on them to put them there was fascinating! We also liked to pick out which rock would make the best countertop! 

When we realized that we did not have enough time to walk the whole trail that day we got on one of the free shuttles and took it to several of the lookout points. We watched the sunset over the canyon and caught several glimpses of the Colorado River a mile below us. The Grand Canyon is so massive, that the Colorado River looked like a stream far below us, but it is on average 300 feet wide throughout the 270-mile long canyon! The immenseness of the Canyon was overwhelming, it is certainly one of the parks we want to revisit with more time so that we can make a trip to the canyon floor or raft the length of the National Park on the Colorado River! The second day we were there we saw more lookouts and the Desert Rim Watchtower, which was built to commemorate and honor many types of the Puebloan Architecture found in the desert Southwest. It was thoughtfully designed to blend into the canyon rim and decorated by ancestors of the Hopi Indians. After we toured the watchtower we returned to the Jeep and began our drive into Utah, and Zion Canyon National Park! 

Once at the state line we found an amazing sign welcoming us to Utah, but on the other sign of the highway was only a tiny green sign that had written Arizona state line. After seeing all of those awesome signs this was such a let down and we immediately regretted not taking the picture two nights before. 

Kokomo

We woke up early on Saturday, November 9; to make our way to a 9:00 ferry ride that would be taking us to the Channel Islands National Park, and in particular the Santa Cruz Island. Dan drove and on the way we stopped at Trader Joes to pick up some eggs for breakfast the next morning, but he forgot bacon! In about an hour and a half we arrived at the dock. We were late so we had to sign in, take our fuel tanks out of our bags, and run all of bags onto the ferry as quick as we could. Then everyone loaded onto the ferry to begin the 19 nautical mile trek to the island. On the ferry we met the first of Dan’s coworkers, Jordan, who actually went to CSU with us and was in the same major as Chris and Dan. As the boat cruised through the water we were able to see some very large sea lions sun bathing and had great ocean views! 

We made our first of two stops at the Scorpion drop off. Most of the people on the ferry got off there. On the way over to Prisoners drop off a couple of dolphins were swimming in the boats wake! It was amazing to see how gracefully and swiftly they dive in and out of the water! Unfortunately, Lauren made it over to the railing of the boat to late to take any pictures; the dolphins were too far away.  

We helped unload the ferry, grabbed our gear, and headed onto the island to begin the 4-mile trail that would take us to our campsite, where Alan and Tara had arrived the day before. That 4-mile trail felt like 10! Each of us was carrying our backpacks plus one or two gallons of water and the trail was extremely steep no matter which direction you were going. We took a break near a sign that pointed us in the direction of the campsite. We took our packs off, drank a lot of water, took in the scenery, and then grudgingly put back on our packs and headed for the campsite. 

We were pleasantly surprised to find the campsite approximately one whole minute away from where we had taken our break! Tara was already there waiting for us and Alan was on his way back from hiking to the China harbor. Chris and Lauren set up their hammocks while Dan and Jordan set up their tents. Alan finally arrived from his long hike and told us that there were some great views just a couple minutes farther up the trail. He was right! The views were outstanding! On our way back we noticed some prickly pears on a cactus just below us. Chris, Lauren, and Dan made their way down to try some! They were very juicy, but the little fruits were covered in fuzzy spines, which attached to your skin like Velcro and were extremely hard to remove! 

The biggest predator on the island was the Santa Cruz Island fox, which is no bigger than a typical house cat. They were friendly and obviously very used to people. They would hang out around us and even jump up on the table where we were sitting. One stole Chris’s yogurt trail mix and Chris went tearing after it. The fox was too quick and Chris was upset. We also saw a fox running with a roll of toilet paper, apparently they are very civilized foxes! 

That night we played some fun card games and ate brats for dinner. We laughed a lot and really enjoyed everyone’s company! By 8:00 everyone was exhausted and ready for bed.  Chris and Lauren were the only ones that did not sleep well and Alan soon told us why. He showed us the proper way to sleep in a hammock, diagonally so your body can lay as flat as possible, probably a good thing to know before you invest in a hammock!

 In the morning we had eggs and toast for breakfast and began to pack up our gear. The foxes smelled our tasty morsels and came to explore. Chris and Dan were even able to feed them out of their hands, not recommended or probably even legal; Jordan had no such luck. After we were packed we made our way down the steep trail back to the dock. We again had some amazing views and made it down in time to go on a guided hike to Pelican point. 

Movember

It was a short, but great hike! We saw an Island Scrub Jay, a type of blue jay only found on this island! Like this jay there are another 150 species found only on the Channel Islands! Also, several plants that are usually found on the mainland flourish here naturally and in slightly different states.  For example, the Manzanita shrub grows only to about two to three feet high; on the island it can grow over thirteen feet high! 

Our guide informed us of a lot of facts about the island and quite a bit of history. One interesting story is that a Chumash girl of about 10 was the only one left on the island after the rest of her tribe had been captured and taken to the mainland. Even at the age of 10 she was ingenious and skillful enough to take care of herself for the next 17 years. At the age of 27 a couple of fisherman found her and she went back to the mainland with them. Sadly, due to the exposure of disease she died three months later! We saw some jaw dropping views of the island coast and other scenery that surrounded us! A crow, apparently hungry, had found the weakest link of our group. It was Alan. He was moving slower and limping due to his sore knees and feet from the strenuous hike he had done the day before. The crow circled him for some time and then even hopped on the ground behind him until Alan noticed. Unfortunately for the crow, Alan managed to make the whole hike. Right before we made it to Pelicans Point we stopped to suck on some lemonade berries. Delicious! People sometimes soak these berries to make actual lemonade. They were sour and tart and tasted just like a lemon warhead candy! We could have stayed at the bush for at least an hour sucking on natures candy! Pelicans point was beautiful and we got to see some more starfish! 

The hike had finished and the ferry was anchored in the harbor of Pelicans Point. A little inflatable dinghy brought us from the shore to the ferry. We boarded and after making a couple of stops to pick up other passengers we headed back to L.A. The ferry ride was great and we got to watch the sun begin to set on the water. We did not, however, get to see any more dolphins or whales, as Tara and Alan had seen on their ferry ride.  

It was an amazing experience to be able to camp on an island and know that our group was the only one on that side of the island! It is an experience we hope to have more often! After we packed up the cars, Alan suggested we go to a Korean barbeque for dinner. Alan is Korean, which made the dining experience exceptional! He was able to tell all of the staff what we wanted and when we needed more, and was also able to tell us what we were eating, which is always helpful. In the middle of the table is a grill for the diners to cook their food on just the way they like it. Alan did a terrific job and everything was delicious! We said good-bye to everyone and jumped back into Dan’s car to make our way back to his house for the last shower and the last bed we would have for the next 16 days!

The Ballad of Jed Clampett

We drove across the desert between Las Vegas and Los Angeles in about 3 hours. There was not much between the two cities that qualifies as civilization, but it was still a very beautiful drive. The arrival in Los Angeles however was not. As we neared the city it became more congested, and with so many intersecting highways and interstates it was a tourists worst nightmare! Miraculously, we found our way to Biola University without too much of a fuss to meet Evan and Amy Schneider. We parked our Jeep on one of the side streets and walked towards campus. Just as we neared the school Evan met up with us. Amy found us soon afterward. They took us on a tour of their university. We saw the gymnasium, dormitories, cafeteria, sports complex, and a giant mural of Jesus all in about 15 minutes! The campus is quite small, but very pretty! After we finished the tour we hopped in Evan’s car and went to dinner. He and Amy took us to a pizza place called “Pie-ology”. It works just like Chipotle, in the sense that you start with a pizza and add your choice of sauce, cheese, and whatever number of toppings you desire! It was delicious, and made us wonder why there weren’t any of these in Colorado, especially in ski towns! Evan ordered a dessert pizza that was also really good. Amy recommended that while we were in L.A. we should try an Acai bowl, duly noted! Lauren in particular was very excited about this prospect and stored that nugget of information away for a more opportune moment. We drove back to campus and took a few photos to commemorate our time with them and then everyone dispersed. 

Amy had a scavenger hunt to go to for her adventure club, Evan had some work to take care of and we were going to stay with one of Chris’ friends/roommates from college that night. It took us about 30 minutes to get to Dan’s house and when we arrived we found that he had graciously prepared carne asada and ingredients to make tacos with! We ate with him and his girlfriend, Jamie, that night and then we got ready for bed. Dan wanted to put us up in his bedroom for the time that we were staying with him. We greatly appreciated the offer and slept very well that night, as Dan stayed on his couch downstairs. In the morning Dan left for work and we prepared to visit Universal Studios. Lauren’s parents had thoughtfully purchased us a 3 day pass to the theme park as well as reserved a nice hotel for us to stay in for two nights in L.A.! We were extremely excited for both! In the morning we made eggs and steak as per Dan’s suggestion and then headed out! We thought leaving later would help us avoid the traffic. We were right until we reached highway 101, which goes right through L.A., from that point on we were stuck in gridlock at 11:30 in the morning! Give me a break L.A.! Eventually we arrived at Universal Studios and entered the park. 

The first thing we did was go to the Hall of Horrors. If you know Lauren, then you know that she does not appreciate this kind of amusement at all! She wanted to go in because she thought it was a ride but found out as soon as we passed through the entrance that it was not! Chris was made to walk behind her with his hands on her shoulders the whole time. One would think that if you are scared of being surprised that you would prefer not to be the one in front, being used as a shield; but there was no talking to Lauren at this point, she was dead set on one thing, getting out! She squeezed Chris’ hands so tightly they began to throb about half way through the Hall of Horrors. It was very evident by Lauren’s tense movements, and shuddering that she did not like it one bit! Chris on the other hand was having a ball! He could not stop laughing at her antics throughout the haunted house, and every time she chided him for it, it only made him laugh more! At least she didn’t pee her pants! When we finished the Hall of Horrors we watched a show called “Water World” which was a lot of fun! The actors entertained the crowd before the show started by spraying members of the crowd with water when they weren’t looking! They also divided the audience into three sections and made them compete against each other to decide who could be the loudest. If they weren’t loud enough, they were drenched with water! The show started quietly with a background story and quickly escalated into pyrotechnic explosions, acrobatic dives, and an array of special effects! It was a lot of fun to watch! 

After the show finished we went to the mummy roller coaster. The ride progresses slowly at first through scenes from the movie and some creepy underground tombs and then accelerates to 45 mph in about 3 seconds before flying through the rest of the ride! You come to a sudden stop at the end and do all of it in reverse, and oh yeah, its all in the pitch black! The first time we did it was the best by far! In the picture Chris looked like someone had just punched him in the gut when the coaster accelerated and right next to him was Lauren with the biggest wide-open mouth smile she could make! Our emotions were perfectly juxtaposed! The next ride we did was the Jurassic Park log flume. The first portion of the ride is slow. The log winds through a river between large robotic dinosaurs while the Jurassic Park theme music plays. For the second part, they launch you into emergency evacuation mode and the only way out is to dive 54 feet right under the nose of a gigantic T-Rex! Lauren was the only one who got soaked on the ride! We know now what seat not to sit in! Once again when we looked at our pictures Chris still looked as though someone knocked out his breath and Lauren was having the time of her life! Up next Transformers 3-D! This ride was fantastic! Normally 3-D rides consist of a chair and a giant movie screen, and end up being kind of lame, but not this one! Transformer’s was on a roller coaster rail system and as you moved through the ride you were spinning in all directions and there were screens in many locations. It all added up to the best 3-D experience we have ever had! When we were done with that ride we went back to the mummy ride and did it two more times and then went to the Simpson’s 3-D ride. The line took forever even though it wasn’t very long and then once you were inside we stood around watching clips from the Simpsons, and we began to feel as though that was the ride! Finally we were put in a car. Then another Simpson’s clip came on and when it was over the car was hoisted up into the ceiling where the ride began. It was a 3-D roller coaster and was actually very good despite the line! It felt very realistic when you were dropping and turning on the coaster. That was the last ride we did for the day. We got back in the car and headed to the hotel. But as you may guess, leaving a theme park on a Tuesday night at the start of gridlock rush hour in L.A., is not good timing! We spent one and a half hours in traffic just to drive 30 miles to the hotel, and most of the progress was made after we got off Los Angeles’ delusional infrastructure system! On the way, we tried to hop into what we thought was an HOV lane, only to find out after our picture was taken that it was an HOV lane only for people with a Fastrak Pass! So that was fun, but so far no fines have come from it, and after calling Fastrak they said they would wave any fines we might get anyway. When we reached the hotel we were both worn out and very hungry from our eventful day. Lauren had been craving stuffed crust pizza, so we ordered one and some wings from Pizza Hut. It hit the spot! The Hotel was very nice, it had a sitting area with couches and a wet bar and a very nice bathroom! Lauren was so impressed that she decided to take some pictures of it! We watched a movie and relaxed for the rest of the evening before passing out in bed! We woke up refreshed and went down to grab breakfast. We got a late start but it worked in our favor. We drove to Abalone Beach to look at some tide pools, but the winter hours dictated that the beach wouldn’t open until 12 and would be closed by 4. We got there just after 12 and discovered that the tide was too high to see anything. We hung around the beach and waited until about 2 when the ocean’s level had dropped far enough that we could scramble along the sea cliffs and reach some of the higher tide pools.

 We were not disappointed by what we found! Waiting proved to be a wise decision since we found innumerable Sea Anemones, Sea Urchins, crabs, and lots of really cool orange, purple, and zebra streaked Starfish! We took lots of pictures and then headed back to the main beach area to take a quick dip, then we headed back to the hotel. 

That night we decided to grab some In-n-Out for dinner, and it was pretty good! For fast food it’s definitely our preference, but if you haven’t noticed a trend, on the occasion when we dine out, it tends to be cheap! At the hotel we watched a movie and then went to bed to have sweet dreams about breakfast! In the morning we woke up and went down to breakfast. After we ate our fair share we loaded up on some provisions for the trip! We planned ourselves a busy day which started with a visit to Venice Beach. Once we had parked the Jeep, we sat in the sand watching the surfers.

 After a while we started wandering towards the boardwalk. As we walked the boardwalk got increasingly weird. Lots of interesting characters were walking around or trying to sell us things we did not want. We passed muscle beach and were disappointed to discover that no meatheads were working out. There were however a few scrawny pale guys working out and one or two boxing that were pretty good! A lot of art was out on the sidewalk, and a lot of bums. There were some live musicians and lots of wandering salesmen, but overall it was a quiet day for Venice Beach. We did not see many street performers like we were hoping.

 At this point we had turned around and were heading back to the Jeep. Our next stop was the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory. It took us about an hour to drive to the sign and when we got there we parked and easily found the sign for the trailhead. Things almost never go this smoothly for us. We planned to leave the hotel at nine and be at Venice by 9:30. Check! We planned to leave Venice at 11:30 and arrive at the sign by 12:30. Check! Then we had it in mind to hike to the sign and return to the car by 1:30, and this is where things got off track! We got lost in the maze of dirt roads and semi-trails on the way to the sign. Despite trying the only two ways we could find to reach the sign, it was always far away in the distance. We gave up hot, tired, and very thirsty! 

When we got back down to the parking lot we decided to check out the Griffith Observatory. Dan had recommended that go up there to get fantastic views of the city. We were not disappointed! The views atop the Observatory were phenomenal, not to mention the building itself! 

From the Observatory we drove back to Universal Studios to experience some of the things we had not been able to see in the first day. We did the Transformer’s Ride again, and then the mummy ride one more time, and then we took pictures with Bumblebee from the Transformer’s movie! After that we took the Universal Studios tour to see some of the movie sets for Jaws, King Kong, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and many more! Along the way we experienced a 360-degree 3-D King Kong ride! It was really cool to be able to turn any direction in your seat and see a Giant King Kong climbing over the tour bus and fighting with several T-Rex’s! The tour took about 45 minutes and when we had finished we went on the Shrek 4-D ride, and later we found the minions from Despicable Me and took pictures with them as well! 

Then we left the park and endured two and a half hours of L.A. traffic to get back to Dan’s house! The traffic was a total nightmare, but once we arrived things got much better and we were able to relax a little bit more. Dan, Jamie, Lauren, and Chris all went out for dinner. Dan and Jamie picked a sushi place they really like and treated us for dinner. It was delicious! On Friday morning Stacey, one of Lauren’s college roommates, picked us up from Dan’s house and we all went to grab an Acai bowl. The bowls were as delicious as Amy had said they were! We didn’t eat ours until we reached Newport Beach though. We spent a couple hours on the beach with Stacey talking and hanging out. 

Soooooo good!! 

From the beach were able to see a dolphin swim near the coast! Stacey needed to work in the afternoon so at about 11:30 we left to return to Dan’s house and grab our Jeep. We took our car to Laguna Beach and played in the surf for several hours. The waves were rough and there was a pretty good riptide, so we had a lot of fun trying to body surf the waves only to end up doing somersaults in the water! The ocean was incredibly powerful in the particular cove we were in, and our faces may have been smashed into the sand once or twice. We threw our Frisbee back and forth and led each other into the waves so that that person would be forced to dive into an oncoming wave! 

When the tide receded a little bit more we went to look at tide pools and saw a ton of starfish! We were able to see one moving along the rock and another one actually lift its tentacles and move them to another location! They are pretty weird yet fascinating little creatures! There was also a multitude of hermit crabs fighting over scraps of food carried in by the advancing tide. These were the first tide pools Lauren had ever seen so she was incredibly fascinated with them! This day was one of the most relaxing and fun days we have had on this trip! 

After we took as many pictures as we could we headed back to Dan’s house. We needed to do a little shopping before our trip to Channel Island National Park. Dan and three of his co-workers (Alan, Jordan, and Tara) were all going to go there that weekend. Dan bought some brats and a few other necessities and then we went to REI so he could purchase a sleeping bag. It turns out Dan is pretty fast at making decisions like that, unlike Lauren or I! We were in and out of REI in less than 30 minutes and then we met Jamie at In-n-Out for dinner. After dinner we all went to Pink Berry frozen yogurt, and Dan paid for our pumpkin pie frozen treat! That night we packed up our gear for the weekend and watched a movie. Dan passed out before it was over so we quietly went upstairs and went to bed to get a good night sleep before the ferryboat ride in the morning! We had a lot of fun seeing and catching up with all of our friends that lived in the area, and although the traffic was miserable, L.A. provided us with some great entertainment and adventures!