Climbing at JTree

I had a couple of days off, so I talked John Tully into driving down to Joshua Tree National Park to do some rock climbing. He had just purchased a new Subaru Outback, so we enjoyed breaking in his new car as we zipped through the Mojave Reserve southwest of Las Vegas. The climbing at JTree is challenging and mostly requires using "trad" gear. When I first started going there a few years ago I didn't have very much success, but with each visit I become more confident. It is like going to an amusement park for climbers with a different route around every boulder (thousands actually!) I had tried to get one of my kids to go with me, but to no avail (science test, already took sick days off, etc.).
The weather was good for us. Sunny with a slight breeze, but with temps below normal, so we ended up climbing in jackets. We had great success and climbed several new routes that challenged and pushed us. One of the routes was named "Dappled Mare" and it was very fun requiring 3 pitches of exposed yet solid climbing on the Lost Horse Wall. But John and I are still trying to figure out what is a dappled mare? Each evening we would drive into the town of Joshua Tree and pick a hippie-like cafe to eat at. Interesting people live out in the desert. Weird actually. I arrived back in St. George just in time to shower up and go to work at the hospital all night long. Yeah, I was exhausted when I finally crawled in bed the next morning. It was worth it to get in another great climbing trip to Joshua Tree.