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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Heading to JTree

I figure this is as good a time as any to mention that some friends and I have become overly addicted to climbing. Last summer, a few of us did some in Alaska and California, in which we experienced this sport on a whole new level. Months later, it is safe to say we are now obsessed. I have even gone as far as purchasing my first container of protein powder, something I never thought I might do.

There are geographical issues though. Florida, if you had not noticed, does not offer a whole lot of mountainous climbing landscape. Most of the state is only a few feet above sea level. Despite this inconvenience, we have found that it does have a few great climbing gyms that act as wonderful supplements, while preparing for the real thing. So this is what Ben Sasso, John Taylor, Sarah Rogers, Veronica Spake, a few others, and myself have been doing with our time. The result has been an exponential level of obsession in the sport.

Now the real reason I have sat down to write at this particular moment in time, is to squeal out a bit of my pre-trip anticipation/excitement for a trip coming up. That jittery feeling that has one visualizing the adventure while making weird faces of emotional frenzy, teeth gritting, eyes widening, and then the person in the room staring at you curiously and concerningly. (ehhem) So, this blog post is currently acting as my outlet for such feelings. A few of us are flying out to Joshua Tree in California, one of the great climbing locations in the US, to get our fix on some real rock, quartzite monzonite, in this case. Joshua Tree National Park is found in the dessert near LA and homes a wealth of giant boulders big and small. It is the oasis to our obsession. 

Among epic climbs on my list of envisionment, I imagine scruffy beards, meandered yodeling, warm campfires, bloody fingers, spicy food, and arguments in caves about the Theory of Relativity. Yes, not much longer now.  Here are a few photos to explain further what I presently can not:







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