A gang of us from the UCSD Newman Center Young Adult Group went camping, but the main attraction was to climb in Joshua Tree, probably one of the most beautiful places you'll ever see.
Six of us left early on Friday, April 22nd to climb and scout out the routes for the bigger group on Saturday.
Later on, the rest of the group got to our three camp sites in Joshua Tree National Park. We had dinner, set up our tents and sleeping bags, and went to bed after a night of campfire mayhem.
The next day, almost all of us went to climb, attempt to climb, or just watch people climb (which was harrowing on it's own). We set up and had at least 3-4 routes going all at once. Ben led all of the climbs, set anchors at the top so we could all top-rope.
Almost everyone who wanted to took a crack (pun intended!) at finishing a climb. By the end of the day, our fingers were raw and forearms were burning. We all collected a few extra bruises and left some skin somewhere on the rock as well.
Thank God for creation, good friends, and good health. Amen.
More pictures here (Andrea's) and here (Martin's) and here (Kristy's) and here (Dana's) and here (Daniel's).
