Catalina and I spent a couple of days in Joshua Tree National Park for my birthday. I’d climbed and bouldered there a few times, but there were still plenty of nooks and crannies I hadn’t explored. One was The Eye, a popular one-pitch 5.4 beginner route that takes you up an alcove to a tunnel-like formation of overhanging rocks. The feature resembles an eye and offers great views across the park. The route didn’t have many options for protection, making it a bit spicier than expected, with some good exposure. I belayed Catalina up, and we took a little time to enjoy the view. From there, we headed toward the east side of the park to check out Rattlesnake Canyon, the park’s only technical canyon. It’s short and nothing particularly challenging, but special for more reasons than I care to elaborate on. Pretty cool to find this feature tucked away among all the granite boulders. The trip also brought back memories of my first climbing trip to JTree many years ago. I was fortunate enough to be with a group of dirtbag climbers who knew about a place called the Chasm of Doom, a maze of boulders that you navigate by scrambling, climbing, downclimbing, and squeezing through something called the Birth Canal, all in pitch black. It was a surreal experience, with a dozen or so people communicating and working together, guiding each other on where to place hands and feet, when to duck, and when to turn sideways to squeeze through. A true team-building experience. So, years later, I tried to find it again. I knew the general area, but had no luck locating the entrance. Oh well, that memory remains special, as does this trip.
