February 28, 2018  |   

by Bernadette Regan

Since 2009, Climbers Coffee has served over 29,000 cups of coffee, cocoa, and tea.  Sometimes, climbers new to the scene will take a sip then expectantly smile bigger than normal.  They tend to expect that ‘Free Coffee’ means bad coffee.  Thanks to Friends of Joshua Tree, Joshua Tree Outfitters, Flophouse Resoles, Cliffhanger Guides, and Coyote Corner there’s always good coffee available.  This attention to detail hasn’t been lost and I believe it has helped our outreach to climbers grow tenfold.  From everyone in Hidden Valley – THANK YOU for all the hot drinks!

This season, a crew of volunteer Climber Stewards was picked to help JTNP with climbing projects and outreach.  They are out in the park every day of the week – being positive examples for good climbing practices, educating campers about food storage, learning about SAR, helping with a monitoring project, cleaning up graffiti, and delineating climbing access paths.  They are hard folks to track down at times – but thanks to a donation from FOJT – they’ve been outfitted with Delorme InReach’s – SOS devices that transmit maps with exact locations – when activated- to the dispatch center.  So far, no one’s gotten lost.   For the spring season, the Climber Stewards are – Shelton, Mike, and Madison.  Stop by Climbers Coffee next Saturday or Sunday to meet the crew.