Joshua Tree National Park

Wednesday 10:23 am. Kyle and I started brewing the idea of going camping. We (Kyle, Andre, Will and myself) decided on going to Joshua Tree which is about 3 hours away from SD. Camping for one night shouldn't take much. Its mostly just one hell of a car ride.

My backpack contained no changes of clothes: simply two forties, a bottle of tequila, a sleeping bag, sweater, jacket, toothbrush, journal, and harry potter 7 (which i did not end up even reading making it dead weight). Oh, and i did also bring some chips, teddygrams and some water.

We rented a tent from Outback Adventures for only 14 bucks and by 5:00, we were on the road. 10 minutes into our journey, we realized that we didn't have a lighter... :(

At about 7, we arrived in Riverside and had a scrumptious fried chicken dinner courtesy of Church's Chicken and some bud. So crispy on the outside, so tender and juicy on the inside. Deliciousness. Church's biscuits are also fukin money. They are a little bigger than bitesize, but still able to fit in your mouth in one monstrous chomp. Just like the chicken, crispy/flaky (with a dash of honey) on the outside, soft on the inside. Nothing satisfies like church's. KFC fukin sucks compared to church's.

We continued our trek to Joshua tree, taking the 60 to the 10 to the 62. The roads in the desert are not very well lit and they seem to go on forever. We entered the park at around 10-11ish i guess and w/o headlights, it was completely dark. Joshua trees looked like Dr. Seuss' trees. Hybrids between cactus and normal trees. A freak plant growing only at a certain altitude.

We found campgrounds at Keys View. It's awesome because we just park our car at a campsite and the just trekked into the wilderness to set up camp. We pounded one of the fortys and hiked about less than a mile with 3 flashlights and found this nice little hill. The climb up this hill was atrocious. Will was carrying a huge jug of water and gatorade and I had a huge jug of Arizona green tea. I think everyone almost fell back at one point.

The mountain top was basically a bunch of rocks and we found a nice flat surface where we set up our tent. After setting up our tent we proceeded to foolishly intoxicate ourselves with some jim bean, tequila, and more warm beer. We justified our alcohol consumption with two deck big two which was just too complicated. It simply took too much thinking so we made our excuses to drink easier by moving onto a more universal game: war. High card drinks. No thinking. Just drinking.

I woke up drunk the next morning at around 6:30 and said, "I feel like I have a hangover" and then realized that I indeed had a hangover. Nevertheless, we four ingested some poisonous toadstools with some tasty jalepeno/habenero chips to mask the mushroom's flavor. The toxin kicked in within minutes as we were all in fetal position in our sleeping bags reeling from the drugs. Essentially, our bodies were telling us this: why did you eat this poison? dont ever do it again. I tried to pass the time listening to some soothing music. After 30 minutes or so, everything became surreal.

I hadn't surveyed the area really because it was fukin dark when we got there, but now the sun was out and my mind wasnt straight anymore. Everything triggered the "whoa" factor in my mind. As i looked off our rock, all around us was joshua trees and desert and some rock formations. It was kinda cloudy but where there were holes in the clouds, the sun radiated through in full glory, giving a moving spotlight on a stage effect. It was pretty awesome because the clouds were moving very fast. Additionally, because of the cloudy skies, the weather fluctuated liek crazy. The sun would poke out for a second and itd be fukin hot, and then disappear in the next moment and itd be cold and windy again. This just added to the trippiness of the trip. (descripitive i kno =D)

It was nice to look at the landscape. It was super relaxing and my only regret was not bringing my camera (which i left at home along wtih the tarp for our tent) to take pictures of the countless kodak moments. We started climbing rocks and throwing frisbee from rock to rock when i suddenly had to poo. I found a nice crevice in the rock formations and did my business. probably the best, most satisfying shit ive ever taken. You truly havent lived, unless youve taken shits out in the wilderness.

Andre threw a pass that was carried by the wind, over to the other side of the mountain and we lost sight of it. We went out on a search party to look for it but never found it. We did however discover a whole rock playground and climbed everything we were capable of climbing. I literally had instances were if i letgo, i woulda plunged 20some feet into some crags. I got numerous cuts and scrapes on my hands and legs. The rocks were like made out of numerous little rocks that were jagged and shit. Some would just flake off. Will had a great time entertaining himself, breaking them off big rocks, and then breaking them into smaller pieces.

blah blah blah

Camping and shrooming are a perfect combination. I hated shrooming whne i was indoors and not moving around. Being outside, you won't get stuck in a loop and get depressed and shit. Rather, you're continuously being impressed by nature in its complete glory. This is what the romantics were on, im sure. I was truly awed by the national park and I'm sure ill be returning.