Similar to the beginning of another story I wrote on here recently, Jess and I had planned to go to New Mexico. This time we actually did but hit a roadblock. My 2015 Jeep Cherokee after many years of kinship and adventurous travel finally began to have some large issues. Oliver the Jeep began to lose power to the internal and external lights. as well as began to idle very roughly. the Head Lamps needed a restoration, and the Jeep had a fuel leak. Before all of this after leaving Grand Canyon Village to Albuquerque New Mexico, we had dinner at the “High Noon Restaurant and Saloon”. and continued driving. on US 25 from the big city and drove through Socorro New Mexico before branching off onto a labyrinth of dirt roads.

After about an hour of dirt road driving, we arrived at the Springtime Campground and the just intime for another outburst from our tired Jeep Cherokee. The trusty steed idled heavily, and it began to feel more and more unresponsible to still head into the backcountry with a Jeep that might not make it back out. The moonlight was illuminating the entire desert landscape, and the desert silence was inspiring. We decided to cut our loses and start making our way back closer to civilization. I parked on a ridge, and we slept in the back of Oliver for the rest of the night. It was Midnight and we were both pretty tired. The next morning Jessica and I started our car up and began driving back to Albaqurque. Along the way, we stopped at Steve O’s Truck Stop on Socorro and we bought some Gatoriade. From here we headed to Albaqurque and booked a Air BnB for the night. We enjoyed some indoor climbing at Stone Age Climbing Gym and grabbed coffee at Little Bear Coffee Company. I also found a love fro Yucca Fries at Tin Can Ally and pointed out a mountain I had climbed to Jess in the Manzano’s as we were driving around town.

The next day, we pushed back to Arizona, driving into the White Mountains of Arizona to Greer. We had a Cabin Booked on Air BnB and Jess mentioned that the town reminded her of a scary movie. We grabbed some dinner at a cafe in Greer and went to bed. The next morning, we grabbed coffee at Wildfire Expresso in Alpine, Arizona, on the way home. A work week passed and our goal was to get into the backcountry once and for all as soon as possible.  I scheduled an appointment at the Flagstaff Jeep dealership and we were off the next weekend to Flag.  The poor Jeep stalled on the way but did indeed make it!  Unfortunately, the cost of diagnosing everything outweighed the need to go about those repairs.  After some lunch at a little Ramen shop, we decided to trade in the Jeep.  By the end of the day, I had a new Jeep but was nearly in tears saying goodbye to my friend, Oliver the Jeep.  On the bright side, we had a good and reliable adventure mobile, and we could now head to the backcountry.

Moving forward Jessica and I worked one more week and patiently waited for our upcoming trip.  We planned to go to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California and backpack into Johnny Lang Canyon.  We arrived in town after work right after sunset and ate Thai Food in Twentynine Palms before checking into our Air BnB.  One on the trail, this canyon is predominantly straightforward, but one could easily become discombobulated.  We started on the California Riding and Biking Trail from Juniper Flats Trailhead.  Approximately a mile in, we then branched off onto a cross-country route that headed towards Johnny Lang Canyon, and we would soon spend the night.  After finding our way to the proper entry of the canyon we began our walk into the Canyon.  After some time we pitched camp and made our way toward Quail Mountain for sunset.  We did not make the Summit this trip but had ourselves a beautiful perch on the ridge of Mount Minerva Hoyt.  Jessica and I took some photographs together and made our way back to camp only needing to turn on our headlamps once almost back to our tent. 

Once back at camp we had dinner from Pinnacles Food Company and went to sleep.  My Thermarest Sleeping Quilt had gotten wet somehow and didn’t dry in time for bedtime.  It was not the coldest night but also not the warmest.  The next morning Jessica and I packed up and ate breakfast (Protein Shakes).  We began our hike back out of Johnny Lang Canyon.  Taking sips of our Salty Water… Trying to compensate for the amount of sweat and salt loss from our presentation.  Once within view of our bright orange Jeep, we made jokes about the name of the rig.  I said SAR for Search and Rescue and Jess said Orange.  We got back and aired our feet out.  We talked about food to eat on our way home and grabbed some food in Twentynine Palms before leaving town.

-Sky