Frosty mornings make great excuses for sleeping in!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Binge Blogging
We got a bit spoiled with the ease of internet access during our long stay in Joshua Tree – now that we’re moving around more it’s a bit trickier to get a connection. Our apologies for the tardiness of our updates, we’ll try to do better :)
Frosty mornings make great excuses for sleeping in!
Frosty mornings make great excuses for sleeping in!
Saguaro Forests and Lemonade
We are in Tucson, Arizona, about a 100 miles to the Mexico border. Finally we have reached some serious heat and perpetual sunshine. Due to an unfortunate (clumsy?) slip while hiking near Queen Creek a bit north, Megan managed to sprain a finger on her left hand. After ascertaining that it was sprained and not broken (and experiencing the US health care system, which, if you have insurance, is okay), we ended up at the Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson. Our first impressions of Tucson are positive, everywhere you see people riding their bikes and the city streets are very bike friendly. Just what we like to see.
Even with the sprained finger, we decided that our motto for the week would be “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Since climbing is now out of the picture for a few weeks while the sprain heals, we will be spending more time hiking and sightseeing. Also, we actually made freshly squeezed lemonade from our Palm Springs bounty. Yum.
Today we took a fabulous hike through the desert canyon in the park, passing many amazing saguaro cacti (the classic cactus!), some standing upwards of 30 feet, prickly pear cacti as far as you could see and the cholla cactus, a plant you would not want to mess with! Lush is not a word normally associated with the desert, but that’s exactly the word I would choose for the desert here.
Even with the sprained finger, we decided that our motto for the week would be “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Since climbing is now out of the picture for a few weeks while the sprain heals, we will be spending more time hiking and sightseeing. Also, we actually made freshly squeezed lemonade from our Palm Springs bounty. Yum.
Today we took a fabulous hike through the desert canyon in the park, passing many amazing saguaro cacti (the classic cactus!), some standing upwards of 30 feet, prickly pear cacti as far as you could see and the cholla cactus, a plant you would not want to mess with! Lush is not a word normally associated with the desert, but that’s exactly the word I would choose for the desert here.
Turning the corner
Leaving Palm Springs behind, we turned our first ‘continental’ corner, heading east to Arizona, towards Phoenix and hopeful for warmth. This was actually our second attempt at visiting Arizona, since we’d tried to climb at Queen Creek after leaving Vegas but been rained out. We’d fled Arizona under drizzling skies that resembled Vancouver in November.
Our second attempt was under much more cheerful skies, and we felt that the exploration part of the trip was really started, since from now on everything would be new territory to both of us.
Queen Creek looked like it could be a fun destination, but it still didn’t seem to line up for us. This time around we encountered a horde of boy scouts (ironically most of them seemed to have lost their troupe), gale force winds (which made baking muffins really hard), and routes which didn’t work well with Megan’s not-quite-recovered right hand. Southward we go, in search of still-warmer climes.
Our second attempt was under much more cheerful skies, and we felt that the exploration part of the trip was really started, since from now on everything would be new territory to both of us.
Queen Creek looked like it could be a fun destination, but it still didn’t seem to line up for us. This time around we encountered a horde of boy scouts (ironically most of them seemed to have lost their troupe), gale force winds (which made baking muffins really hard), and routes which didn’t work well with Megan’s not-quite-recovered right hand. Southward we go, in search of still-warmer climes.
The Citrus Visits
After spending close to 5 weeks in Joshua Tree (with brief interludes in Red Rocks and Disneyland), we were lucky to get to visit in the Palm Springs area with two separate groups. Firstly we spent a few nights in Rancho Mirage visiting Dave’s Dad and his girlfriend Susan, catching up and enjoying some serious heat by the pool. We got a taste of local culture at the local weekend market, where they sold everything from cactus honey (yum) to habanero olives. Also many items of clothing with many sparkles.
We also took a day hike out at the Indian Canyons, a preserved area operated by the Agua Caliente Cahuilla tribe. The area had several natural oases and we learned some interesting tidbits about palm trees. For example, each palm tree drinks about 40 gallons of water each day, drawn from the ground below them. The area around Palm Springs has an incredibly amount of natural ground spring water, however, the demand because of continuing development in the area (and lots of golf courses!), the supply of natural springs is being used too rapidly and the cities (Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs), are beginning to settle. Sink, in other words!
Later the same week, after a brief return to Joshua Tree for a few last climbing days, we returned to Palm Springs to visit Megan’s parent’s friends, David and Susan. We were treated to a lovely dinner and spent the evening chatting. In the morning, we were introduced to the satisfaction of picking citrus fruits right from the trees! Grapefruit, orange, tangerine and lemon trees are plentiful throughout the region and the trees around their house were brimming with ripe treats. David had a long fruit picker and demonstrated the process and we all had a turn at pulling down grapefruits from branches well above us. Dave and I left with a bounty of citrus, enough vitamin C to keep us healthy and happy for many days!!!!
We also took a day hike out at the Indian Canyons, a preserved area operated by the Agua Caliente Cahuilla tribe. The area had several natural oases and we learned some interesting tidbits about palm trees. For example, each palm tree drinks about 40 gallons of water each day, drawn from the ground below them. The area around Palm Springs has an incredibly amount of natural ground spring water, however, the demand because of continuing development in the area (and lots of golf courses!), the supply of natural springs is being used too rapidly and the cities (Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs), are beginning to settle. Sink, in other words!
Later the same week, after a brief return to Joshua Tree for a few last climbing days, we returned to Palm Springs to visit Megan’s parent’s friends, David and Susan. We were treated to a lovely dinner and spent the evening chatting. In the morning, we were introduced to the satisfaction of picking citrus fruits right from the trees! Grapefruit, orange, tangerine and lemon trees are plentiful throughout the region and the trees around their house were brimming with ripe treats. David had a long fruit picker and demonstrated the process and we all had a turn at pulling down grapefruits from branches well above us. Dave and I left with a bounty of citrus, enough vitamin C to keep us healthy and happy for many days!!!!
New Years
We headed up to Red Rocks a few days ahead of our planned meeting date, to ensure that we got a campsite. This may not have been required, but was good for peace of mind. After a few months of mostly our own company, we were really looking forward to spending a week with friends.
Brock, Chris, Damien and Jeanette arrived on the 30th. Damien and Jeanette had had a rather epic drive down, and on hearing that water was freezing in our tent most nights they opted to spend the first night in a hotel. The joy of a flexible budget!
Dirty dishes, or ice sculpture?
Chris and Brock showed up well after we went to bed (8:30 or so) and were so quiet setting up that we were surprised to see their tent in the morning.
On the 31st we all headed to Moderate Mecca at Calico Springs. This was a lovely location for midwinter climbing – we even climbed a few routes without wearing longjohns! Yes, we did still have pants on ;)
We had a really late night around the campfire on New Years Eve – I think the stragglers were still up after 10:00! We celebrated New Year’s in some other time zone we figure. It was nice to hang out with a group of friends who share our sleeping habits! During the trip so far, we have easily been sleeping 10 hours a night, sometimes even 12 hours! Such is life when you have no electricity and it’s the middle of winter. It feels like we’re catching up on a few years worth of sleep…
Even with all this napping, we did get a little more climbing in. We did attempted a route called Geronimo, but bailed on account of cold weather (the route doesn’t get sun in the month surrounding the winter solstice). Dave and Brock returned the next day, which was warmer, climbing both Geronimo and Olive Oil. Meanwhile Megan and Chris climbed up Turtlehead Peak – another “rest day” that was more exercise than most of our climbing days!
We did a little more climbing the next day, before the impending storms broke up our party. We headed south again, and our friends headed north.
Brock, Chris, Damien and Jeanette arrived on the 30th. Damien and Jeanette had had a rather epic drive down, and on hearing that water was freezing in our tent most nights they opted to spend the first night in a hotel. The joy of a flexible budget!
Dirty dishes, or ice sculpture?
Chris and Brock showed up well after we went to bed (8:30 or so) and were so quiet setting up that we were surprised to see their tent in the morning.
On the 31st we all headed to Moderate Mecca at Calico Springs. This was a lovely location for midwinter climbing – we even climbed a few routes without wearing longjohns! Yes, we did still have pants on ;)
We had a really late night around the campfire on New Years Eve – I think the stragglers were still up after 10:00! We celebrated New Year’s in some other time zone we figure. It was nice to hang out with a group of friends who share our sleeping habits! During the trip so far, we have easily been sleeping 10 hours a night, sometimes even 12 hours! Such is life when you have no electricity and it’s the middle of winter. It feels like we’re catching up on a few years worth of sleep…
Even with all this napping, we did get a little more climbing in. We did attempted a route called Geronimo, but bailed on account of cold weather (the route doesn’t get sun in the month surrounding the winter solstice). Dave and Brock returned the next day, which was warmer, climbing both Geronimo and Olive Oil. Meanwhile Megan and Chris climbed up Turtlehead Peak – another “rest day” that was more exercise than most of our climbing days!
We did a little more climbing the next day, before the impending storms broke up our party. We headed south again, and our friends headed north.
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