The desert of Joshua Tree is old and wise, holding the power to carry the voices of many through the huge piles of granite rocks that separate the campsite, or that bring the sites together. The hot sun beams down on your face, the windy evenings create shaking tents as you sleep, and you feel the rough granite under your fingertips as you climb the rocky surface.
Hello everyone! It’s a little stressful to be the first blog for the Mountain Classroom Spring 2026 program, but here we go! To start off this grand adventure, Ted and Emi picked us all up from the airports. From then, the journey to Joshua Tree first sprouted (get it because it’s trees!?). Since some flights got in late and it would end up being too late to cook dinner, we had our first meal together at a Taco restaurant. I mean, come on, how can you start your off-campus trip better than that!? We got to our campsite around 8:30 at night, California time, but with the jet lag, we are all mostly on Eastern time, and it felt like we started setting up our tent at 12:30 am. We figured out our sleeping arrangements, grabbed our tents, and went to bed. We worked as a team to have everyone’s tents set up and ready so we could all get to bed. The next morning, almost everyone was still jet lagged, so they were up and ready to go bright and early at 6 am. Not me, I am still transitioning from a family spring break trip with only one hour time difference rather than 3 hours earlier. Nonetheless, I still woke up early enough to watch the sunrise on the top of one of the jumbo rocks with the others! We had two solid days to get a rundown of the whole shabang of how things work on this bus, but then on March 26th, we started our 4 days of rock climbing!
After the couple days of orientation prep, we got right into the first mountain classroom expedition. Each day of climbing we gain more callouses and blisters, but also more understanding and knowledge of climbing, and trust for each other.
“What an experience. I mean, seriously? I’m waking up with my friends, some who have been there for my whole Proctor career, and some newly forming, watching the sunrise or going on a morning run together almost every morning to then rock climb all day. Where else is that a possibility? Whether you fully trust the person or not, what better way to put it to the test than by belaying each other immediately after the introduction? Honestly, this is so fun, and I can truly say I trust each one of these people with my life, literally. And it’s only day 7.”
~ Annie ’26
Everyone came into this with different climbing experience – some with none and some with climbing being something they love to do in their free time. Cortland is up and down those rocks before you could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
As we are climbing one day, Reagan seems to be in a tricky situation. She finds herself with one leg over a rock with her other leg stretched out above her hip on the other side of the rock. Her arms trying to hold herself up above her. To be in a more natural position, Reagan lowers her stretched out leg and sits down on the rock sticking out of the rock face. Obviously, she can’t move past this without having some sort of commentary. Let’s just say the commentary continued over the next few days. This will be a core memory for me, and I will never forget our interactions during these days of climbing. I am surprisingly grateful that rock climbing is the first expedition of this trip because it is a great way to bring each other together and having to learn to trust each other quickly.
To answer one of the most commonly asked questions, yes, I will admit I have had a few moments where I thought I was forgetting my phone somewhere, but that phase has passed for me. I don’t have that desire for artificial dopamine lingering in my back pocket. I WANT to be spending my time with this group of people, and this might be a crazy shout, but I’m grateful there is no technology. At least for me, this is an experience I hope many others are able to have. The amount of genuine laughter and memories this group is having together, especially this early of being together, is something I don’t think would exist if we were wrapped up in technology. I truly believe this group is creating a bond we will never forget, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity. Thank you MTCLRM!
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