My dream for a full "Floor is Lava" traverse of Joshua Tree's Wonderland of Rocks remains a unobtained goal. Being quite hot this time of year, the thought occurred to me to try an evening traverse under a full moon. With a date set I recruited Jimmy who I thought would be up for it, and he recruited two more graduate students to join us. My thinking was we could start at 7pm and be done around 11pm, which in hindsight was a little unrealistic despite one of the group not being completely up to the challenge. Jimmy and I set our shuttle at Indian Cove and then drove into Barker Dam where we met Stephen and Haley at 6:30pm. I was a little worried when I realized they had no idea what they would be in for, and more still when we started off across the rocks and I recognized their pace. They were in good cheer though and so we kept on despite the early signs. Pretty early on someone's pants turned into posteriorless chaps, an amusing throwback for me to my first Wonderland traverse.
We had a couple deadends at the start which slowed progress but eventually reached a nice slickrock area where we could make good progress, enjoy the setting sun, and simultaneously, the rising sun. I was in my element with some of the more scrambly sections and probably could have made 2.5 times the progress of the rest of the group. The first few wash crossings were straightforward and manageable at the locations I suspected. At the junctions of two major washes we had to make six separate crossings which slowed us down considerably. The worst of them required me jumping in the middle of a bush and then jumping across the rock. Legality is debatable I suppose but the landscape was not altered and my foot did not touch the wash. It seemed the desert recently had a solid down pour: footprintless washes, fresh fluvial features, moist sand, patches of water, and the worst sign of all, mosquitoes in abundance.
Through the major wash junction, I decided to take a chance on an alternate saddle, which ended up being very tricky and ending at a blind slot. This seemed like the obvious place (and time) to abandon the floor is lava mentality. In 2.5 hours we made it about 1.5 miles! From here on we took the path of least resistance, following washes and intrusive contacts in a race for Indian Cove. We crossed over to the easternmost major wash and followed it north. Intervals were wide and sandy allowing us to turn off headlamps and travel by moonlight. We bypassed the first scrambly breakdown section, then had two more to navigate for distances of about 500 ft. The further down the wash we went the more standing pools of water we saw, and the more happy frogs. It was quite late by the time we reached The Helmet rock formation, I made sense of the junction of washes, and we set on down the steep and mysterious gut for Rattlesnake Canyon. Progress continued very slowly, giving me time to explore ahead and find three nice sections of talus cave we could drop into.
After what seemed like ages we dropped into Rattlesnake Canyon and then had the comparatively easy task of hiking down it to the trailhead. Despite the ridiculous hour, Jimmy and I had a solid run back to the car to spare the other two the last bit of effort. 2:30am we finished! We drove out, went desperately in search of a 24hr convenience store to stock up on cold Gatorade, then drove back to Barker Dam to close the loop. We drove through the entirety of the Hidden Valley campground- completely full! Jimmy and I parted with Stephen and Haley and drove all the way back to Indian Cove. It was 5am by the time I got to sleep in my car (to avoid the brutal mosquitoes), and 7:45am when the heat of the sun cruelly made me wake up and abandon the car! Jimmy and I climbed three adjacent routes rather quickly (nice for me as I can't remember the last time I've been climbing outside) before the sun's heat chased us into our cars' AC, and back home for a nap in a bed. The Floor Is Lava Traverse remains an enticing possibility. I've only cracked the first 1.5 miles of six and am left wondering how big of a project this is. Perhaps it would be best if I attempted sections of the traverse before stringing the whole thing together to eliminate time wasted on deadends. What is clear is that it would make and incredible journey and a remarkable full body marathon. Thanks to the others for joining.
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