It's Jtree Season!!!

It's the end of September which means it's time to go climbing for my birthday per annual tradition. This year is mostly like the last - Joshua Treeeeeeeeee!

I can't begin to express how excited I am. All day at work today it felt like Christmas Eve and I'm 12 again. The anxious glances at the clock, wondering when Santa, or in this case - Joshua Tree, would arrive. It's that same nervous jitter that you can't contain no matter how much you try. I love it.

As much as I love Black Mtn, the last few times I went it's been feeling like work. The same old problems, the same attempts. The same drive. Just work work work for the ascent. The trip to Holcomb Valley earlier this month reminded me how much I missed the long lonely climbs up a route without the distraction of others around me. As much as I enjoy the support of my friends, there's something to be said about being up high and being alone.

I wanted to say something poignant about the meaning of climbing to me too. I had some great thoughts in the shower, but alas - like many thoughts in the shower, they got washed away down the drain when I turned the refreshing water off. I guess the thoughts that I had had to do with how much I appreciate climbing is for my own personal spiritual and emotional growth. "Spiritual?!" you might say... yes, that's what it means to me. I think with the last few trips to Black Mtn something was lost - I'm not sure if it was certain people in the company, the weather, the problems or what, but something has been lost.

I feel as though Joshua Tree can afford me that growth again. I'm trying to shake off my expectations of the coming season as best as I can as I go forward tonight, alone for the drive, into the desert. I can hear U2's songs about the place with streets with no name running through my head like a siren in the distance. It's so beautiful.

My plan for this weekend is to go forward and climb not with the youthful exuberance of my peers, but with more of a warrior monk sense of drive (as cheesy as that sounds, it's the closest analogy I can think of). I'm feeling a serene sense of calm as a mentally prepare myself for the frightening run outs and the thoughts long falls. It will be beautiful. No sense of the crap that is associated with city life / social life - just me, the rock and movement.

Anyways, this entry is becoming increasingly disjointed and cheesy. So with that, I salute you world - and Joshua Tree. I hope you all have as much fun as I do as I go out to enjoy myself in such a magical world this weekend.