Joshua Tree National Park

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This morning I met Kim in 29 palms and we made our way into the North entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. We probably got about 20 minutes in when Kim looked down and realized she was in flip flips and not her hiking shoes. So we turned around and headed back to her hotel. Coming through the gate again the attendant laughed and welcomed us back.
 We headed to Ryan Mountain, which is about 1,059 elevation gain in 1.5 miles and the loop in and out was 3 miles. Over the course of the mile and a half up, two hikers were trying to say hello to me and almost fell over. One, I attempted to like reach my arm out, like a driver shielding a passenger when they unexpectedly have to slam on their brakes, which makes no sense because when you think of the act done in the car it doesn't help the passenger. You're basically setting yourself up for a broken arm from the airbags, but whatever. Anyway, same thing here. What exactly was my arm going to do for this gentleman afterall? I wasn't going to catch him. He would have just fell; while I had my arm out, making the most awkward squeal on his way down provoking more attention to this poor man. Luckily, there was no fall and the disaster never happened.
 So we continued up to the top. We then headed over to hidden valley to the trail. There's a lot of scrambling off that trail. A few weeks ago I posted I'm either afraid of heights or the act of falling. Still haven't figured it out and luckily today wasn't that day either.
 We did manage to scramble and for whatever reason today I was able to push that fear out of my head and keep going up. I think ill chalk that one up that Linda had my back up there. It was a great day and we got in and out before the wind really began picking up. It was a much needed day in nature ✌
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA

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