Who's that? It's Dave!

Magically, Dave and I ended up connecting once again and what better reunion than a trip to Josh? Trish and I loaded up the family truckster and picked up Dave in Corona, then we were off to Josh. It was June and it was hot. Why do I keep going to the desert in the summer? That first trip must have damaged my brain. Why can't I ever be there when it is snowing? I saw the best engrish pictures today, it read "I can't brain today, I have the dumb". Maybe that applies.

So we headed over to Trash Can rock and set 2 TRs. I have no idea what climbs they are and I'm too lazy right now to dig out the Vogel and look them up. Just pretend they are the most awesome climbs in the park.

Since it was so hot that day there were only a few other people in the park, and apparently they were all at Trash Can. There was a small family type group of climbers TRing some stuff, and Bob. More about Bob as the story goes on.

This was my last prep week before heading to the Valley to climb Washington Column (see that trip here). So basically I just needed practice jugging up and down a rope for an hour or two. And that's pretty much what I did. I tried to pick a corner to make it a bit awkward but it wasn't steep enough to really cause any problem. The tougher part was at the bottom were there were some terracing ledges, but even they weren't too bad. Here I am on one of my journeys to the top of the massive 35 foot climb.

Trish and Dave both TRed the route next to me, and then we met Bob. It was 100+ degrees that day. Bob was wearing jeans, a tshirt, a jean shirt over that, and a wide brimmed hat. Why be cool when you can look cool is what Bob always says. So Bob was unemployeed at the time living in Yucca Valley or something. He was hanging out in the park, no doubt looking for murder victims. He quickly latched on to us, being the only group of people in the park that day. Bob produced a harness and being the climbers that we are we offered him a ride on our ropes, which is the rule of the land in the climbing community. I thought Bob was just an old climbing rat out of his prime but I was wrong. He wasn't much of a climber at all. This was fine, he had his fun but now it was getting scary. Suddenly he was the "park expert" and knew all the best places to practice aid. But we'll get back to that. Here is a picture of Trish on the route.

OK, now stop screwing around guys. Has anyone seen Dave's helmet? It's usually in that bag somewhere. Where could it be? If I was a helmet, and I was normally worn on top of the head, where might I be. But seriously, has anyone seen it?

Ah, the site of gear piled in a car. Is there anything better? Quiz time: What's worth more? The gear, the car, or the REI dividend resulting from the gear purchases? Either way this story about Bob is priceless.

Speaking of Bob, we decided to see how crazy this guy was and follow him over to Echo for the "primo aid climbing locations". On the drive over we had the conversation - My car is worth more than Bob's car, he's an unemployeed loaner hanging out in the desert in 100+ degree weather waiting for victims, we have a lot of $$$ worth of gear in the car = foul play. But we followed him anyway. When we got to Echo and saw the climbs he had pitched to us we had to pass. They were simply too primo for us, despite his comment that all the best guides take their clients there. Since we were in the area we decided to swing by Gunsmoke, a fav of Dave and I on every trip to JTree. Here are a few pics of the Gunsmoke area. And yes, Bob was there with us coaching us on our technique.

I'm not a rude person most of the time and I just couldn't bring myself to blatenty ditch Bob, because after all this story is amazing and it would be nothing without Bob. We headed over to the crevase. In the car ride over I told Dave and Trish to stay close in the crevase and stay ahead of Bob. My plan was that he would not be able to fit through the crevase or over some of the obstacles. Dave hiccuped the entire time but even that didn't deter Bob, and he maid it all the way to the top. Even over this nifty mantel move Trish is demonstrating below.

So without further adue, I give you BOB, the man dressed in denim head to toe in 100+ degree weather!

We headed out and at the parking lot to Real Hidden Valley we said good bye to Bob and escaped with our lives, our gear, and one of the many crazy stories I seem to end up with when I go climbing. I'm not so sure the next group was so lucky. No sooner had we got in our car and started heading out of the parking lot when we saw Bob heading over to talk to another group. I haven't heard any missing persons reports and no bodies have been found, just remember when it happens that I have a photo of Bob for the police.