Joshua Tree Climbing-- (Hidden Valley)

Yesterday my buddy Tom and I went to Joshua Tree to do some Trad Climbing. Trad climbing is when one person (the lead) climbs up the route and places anchors while being belayed from the bottom. When the lead person reaches the top, he then belays the bottom person up while the bottom person takes out (cleans) the anchors set by the lead person. Tom was the lead climber on our climbs, he is an experienced climber that has been teaching me the ropes...haha literally!

We went to Hidden Valley which is a very popular climbing spot. It was a beautiful day, about 80 degrees and clear. All our climbs were in in sun so we were pretty beat after our third climb. We had an awesome time. We rappelled off toe jam and the last 20 feet was a free rappel (hanging in the air, no feet on the rock, I included a photo of it).

         Climbs:

• Toe Jam: 5.7 
  
• Mike's Books 5.6 (this is a 2 pitch climb, we only did the first pitch and then free climbed a little bit before rapping off)
  
• The Bong: 5.4 (this was a crack climb that kicked my butt. it was our last climb and I thought it was harder than the other two climbs. beware: at the top of the Bong there are no bolts just one piece of webbing to rap off. Tom had to "donate" 2 carabiners.)