Pomona’s beautiful campus is a major reason many students decide to attend. With green grass, beautiful vistas, calming fountains and huge trees it is hard to resist.

However, at times life here doesn’t feel right. Green grass? Fountains? Aren’t we supposed to be in a desert? Some say college students are out of touch with reality, but who knew it was so physical?

To get back in touch with reality and away from the standard Friday of alcohol, theme parties and walking around, a few friends and I decided to take to the road and find some semblance of reality at Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua Tree National Park is located near Palm Springs, about two hours away from Pomona. It is a gentle mix of two or three ecosystems. The eastern part of Joshua Tree is made up of the Colorado Desert, while the higher part is the moister cooler Mojave dessert. I believe we camped out in the eastern part.

We set out for Joshua Tree on Friday. Just being in a car was a new experience. After two months of walking around the Consortium’s one square mile, driving 60 miles an hour, packed into a Tercel with four other guys was surprisingly exhilarating. Listening to The Rolling Stones with the windows down was better than most car commercials had me believe. As most outdoors experiences show, the trip is the basis for enjoyment, not the destination — our car ride made that evident.

We hiked an area closed to the middle of Joshua Tree, near an area that has been designated as Lost Palms. Well, we really didn’t hike as much as we explored. Everything was amazing. The red rocks, dry sandy gravel under our feet. The rough cacti and other foliage with spiky armor. Stunning rock formations all over. Red boulders stacked upon other boulders perfect for climbing. As we hiked we talked of many things from evolution to music, great college conversations that most people don’t have time for in the dorms.

Around sunset we climbed the largest stack of boulders around and watched the sunset. It was amazing watching the stars slowly come out away from the light pollution and smog of Los Angeles. Exhilarating to inhale the clear air, silence and inherent beauty of our surroundings.

There weren’t any animals around or even very many insects around, only sand, rock and hard plants. Most of the things around us had taken millions of years to form.

We found a place to camp out in a nearby wash. It seemed that it was a dry creek bed that was used to naturally channel water during flash floods. We set up camp and ate a makeshift dinner purchased at Trader Joe’s. A little bit of cereal, sushi and fancy fruit. In the desert we live like kings.

It was a Friday night and we were college students. Methods of inebriation did factor into in our camping experiment, but merely complemented the experience. We climbed to the top of another set of boulders and watched the moon rise slowly, shining a pulsing light upon the mountains and silhouette of the atmosphere. Rugged, harsh, dry, and at times, uncomfortable, my surroundings were something to behold.

We spent most of the night climbing rocks. Not being very sure-footed, I scrambled, clawed, shimmied and bouldered my way up these large formations. At first, a bit timid, I started to become comfortable and actually proved something to myself. For everything intellectual we learn at Pomona College, we should also learn something about our bodies, for our minds and bodies are one.

After a few hours of bouldering, we camped out under the stars and bright moonlight and fell asleep. The next morning we hiked to lost palms a desert oasis of about a dozen huge palm trees. Unlike the picturesque palm trees on campus, these palms looked rugged and shaggy. As much as I expected to be excited by lost palms, it felt like a mere diversion on our trip. The hike, the friends, the rocks and the whole experience were amazing. Our stop to chill around lost palms seemed like a short pause in the experience. Later that day we hiked back, packed into the car somewhat smellier and dirtier than we started, and headed back, envisioning Slushies at Frary.

Joshua Tree National Park is an amazing place to go hike and camp out, but I am not really much of a hiker or outdoorsman to have anything to compare it to. Just getting off campus–disturbing the college routine–and connecting with the basics of life was amazing. Therefore fellow Sagehens, put down this paper, find a few friends and start walking and exploring life. Whether it is on the organic farm on campus, in the city of Claremont and Pomona or in a national park such as Joshua Tree, forget your troubles in the world around.