Joshua Tree Scrambling – a Test
When you keep thinking about Aron Ralston – the man who amputated his forearm with a pocketknife after getting pinned by a boulder in Canyonlands National Park – chances are you have made a wrong choice in your outdoor activity. I kept thinking about him when I was scrambling in Rattlesnake Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park.
The canyon and its washes are choked beyond belief with huge boulders – those Seuss-like mounds I've only seen in that part of California. Getting through the canyon took me a few hours and tested me like no scramble trip ever had before.
I was in Rattlesnake Canyon because I have an aversion to in-and-out backpack trips. I had planned to backpack the Boy Scout Trail – with a side trip to the Wilton Trail – from park road to the end and come back. The night before, I noticed in my guidebook that there was a "very strenuous" route called the "Wonderland Connection," that would allow me to turn my trip into a loop: Boy Scout to Wilton to the Connection and back down the Boy Scout.
The guidebook did not show the Wonderland Connection on a map. That should have been my first clue. It said it consisted of following a wash from the end of the Wilton to the picnic grounds at Indian Cove. With my GPS, I assumed I would have no problem following the wash. That much was true. I was able to follow the wash.
What I did not expect was the sheer amount of rocks and brush. I would say about 20 percent of the wash is what you would expect – sand or wet sand. The rest was impassable brush or piles of rock connected to the huge formations that Joshua Tree is famous for. I recently took a scrambling class at REI. I also read the classic mountaineering book "Freedom of the Hills." The skills I learned were used in the Rattlesnake Canyon.
I was climbing or hopping rock most of that time. Fear and tiredness set in and the going went even slower. I had to maneuver in tight spaces quite often, using legs and arms in concert to push me through. I had to drop my pack several times to get through tight spaces. I kept worrying about getting a limb caught between rocks like Aron Ralston. I kept telling myself to be calm patient and take one move at a time. I had to jump down more than 10 feet several times. I had to clear crevices of a similar distance several times as well.
As I was crab walking down a steep rock, my water bottle popped out of my backpack's side pocket and went skittering into a crevice. The sound scared me. So did the loss of the water. I was left with about four ounces of water and a mile of treacherous climbing to do. Ironically, about an hour later, I found a full bottle of water between two rocks. I could only guess that it was not cached there. I believed it fell there. So I took it. I hope someone else wasn't counting on it.
I plowed ahead. I ripped the butt of my shorts. I cut both legs on brush and scraped both hands on rock. I got out of the canyon by using the gps and sticking to the wash but was amazed it was considered a trail. When I got I let out a hoot. I felt proud of myself for getting through it but foolish for taking such a route with no planning.
I think more experienced climbers might find this an enjoyable route. Despite the account I provide here, I mostly enjoyed the scrambling. I kept calm almost the whole time and learned my limits. The Pine Canyon Trail also provides some fun scrambling for those visiting Joshua Tree.
Just about every trip teaches me something about how to more effectively backpack. This one drove home the point: Don't take unknown routes. Crosscountry trips are fine – but only with proper route planning. Satellite pictures and topo maps would have better prepared me, although I doubt I would have done the trip if I had known was I was in for – and that would have been a loss too.
Here's a picture of one rock field I scrambled:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ncpDuIECaDc/Uoko928gKZI/AAAAAAAAJL0/x57lPb390XY/s1600/IMG_4156.jpg
More pics from my trip to Death Valley and Joshua Tree: https://plus.google.com/photos/111117614602599509159/albums/5946347919100356129?authkey=COH7r82W4s3GNg
