Hike, catching up, and beautiful sunset....

Our Location: Joshua Tree National Park BLM, South entrance, California


An excellent night for sleeping and I took advantage of it. Falling asleep right around 10 pm I didn’t hear anything, not a sound until 5:30 am. A wonderful warm night the temperature was 59F/15C when I went outside just about 6:15 am. 

This greeted me when I stepped outside first thing this morning...

I walked about as I snapped the sunrise pictures, and it was a beauty although I didn’t really catch the pop as the sun was behind some pretty thick cloud cover which seemed to just blow in about 10 minutes before actual sunrise time. 

Shortly after this the dark clouds obscured the sunrise...

I talked with my friend Linda for about 10 minutes this morning, just kind of touching base and catching up quickly. I also called my Aunt Shirley, left a message. Called my buddy Ron but didn’t speak long, they were in the process of hooking up and moving from the overflow area in Magic River Campground to a hook up site. 

We followed this trail today....

Back inside Riley and I made a few plans before heading out for a hike. It wasn’t our best hike and we had a great deal of difficulty figuring out the trail as Skull Rock Trail isn’t really marked well. There is a loop and a trail and one of them joins with another which joins with another but it was confusing. I’m getting ahead of myself. 

See the second faint line to the left as well?

We climbed in the Dogsled and headed into the park, dumped our trash in the bins and headed on through. We noticed a number of different things today as the Ocotillo is now leafing out and looking very dashing in their fabulous new green attire and adding some fascinating reds to the tops of their tall elegant spikes as their blooms are popping open and splashing colour across the desert landscapes. The Cholla (pronounced Choya) Cactus are showing more signs of their colourful yellow blooms also starting to burst forth. The Red Top Buckwheat is scattered around the desert in various places adding bursts of deep crimson while creosote bushes are sporting some very pretty yellow flowers. The Desert Junipers in their ever soft shades of green are hanging with some lush bluish berries too. We’ve also noticed the waxy  green sheen on the Mojave Desert Oaks as they glisten in the sunshine. These were a few of the changes we’ve noticed since our first trip to the other side of Joshua Tree National Park. 

Riley was seated so I couldn't knock her over in my hurry to get set for the picture...

We journeyed today to Skull Rock, and as stated above had a bit of confusion following the trail. It wasn’t well signed in my opinion. We found the sand washes to be inviting and pleasant although the rolling sands make it tougher to walk, but Riley’s new walking stick was an excellent aid for her. We climbed over, around, and even squeezed between rocks, and boulders on the trail. What appears to be smooth rock in some places is very pebbly and not smooth at all. The rock formations are huge, some are split, standing up right, others are jumbled into a heap and scattered. Still others are a combination of the two. The colours range from yellows to oranges to browns. One thing we noticed was a line in some of the formations, in places it looked like a scar but in other places it appeared as if someone had placed a trail of rocks in the top of the bigger formations. One of the small information placards along the way explained that it is EMBEDDED into the rock formations. It is a most interesting sight to see. As you see in the pictures it’s difficult to describe but fascinating to look at. Among the many plants we noticed were of course the usual Creosote, prickly pear, pencil cactus, Tamrisk (like a cedar tree), juniper, there were also things like Mojave Desert Oak, Goatnut trees, various other cacti as well. They appeared in some cases to be literally growing out of the rocks, their roots causing splits, or showing along the top of the rocks, whiles the roots of others were no where to be seen. Interesting way for them to grow.

Look, no roots showing in this pebbly rock surface, from far away it looks smooth....

The many colours of the desert were apparent on today's walk including light yellows, ivory, various shades of browns and greens, along with some purple, blue, reds, whites and of course grays. We noted three little lizards on our travels as well, they are quick and hard to catch in a photo but we were fortunate. They are hard to see as they blend with their surroundings.  

See the little gecko-lizard, he's brown, just above the pale yellow stick...

We did enjoy the hike for the most part, the first Skull Rock Trail was about a mile return which we managed easily but into the second Skull Rock Trail Riley wasn’t feeling too great at about a quarter mile in  and so we turned around, taking a short cut back to the Dogsled and returned home. I think we’ve been doing too much the last few days and we both will be taking the day off tomorrow, except for a few packing up items. 

I wanted to climb up there and have Riley take a picture of me but she wasn't feeling up to it. 

Back home I made myself a salad and Riley prepared spaghetti with a nice sausage meat sauce, with some cheesy garlic bread. It was very good of course and we now have left overs for another day. After that I had a nap, I was tuckered out. Riley rested but didn’t sleep and was feeling better by 4 pm. 

Those are naturally embedded in the rock...

We both read for a bit, then I grabbed the camera and headed outside to catch the sunset. I chatted with Lyle and then Shirley for a bit (Aunt-Uncle) before also catching up with my buddy Ron and his wife Sharon. The sunset was spectacular tonight and I enjoyed it immensely. This may be the most beautiful sunset since we’ve been out here in the southwest. The sky started off in a clouded white/bluish colour then suddenly the reds appeared. Fire in the western sky as the billowy clouds showed off their dazzling deep red. Truly amazing to see.

The Ocotillo leaves are so green and the bloom is so plumy red....

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Please feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy reading them. I hope you’ve had yourself a wonderful day!

The full looking moon shining over Joshua Tree National Park tonight...

Until next time…. take care, be safe,

Fire in the sky.....

Good night from Joshua Tree National park. 

Deb

Teddy Bear Cactus, Joshua Trees, and Twentynine Palms.....

Our Location: Joshua Tree National Park BLM, West entrance, California


A lazy morning for me, I didn’t get out of bed until just before 7 am, I was outside in time to catch 3 sunrise pictures. I was tired last night and slept very well. It was cool this morning but not as cool as it has recently been, I managed with just my fleece sweater this morning and not my heavy jacket. We’re at between 1700 - 1900 feet above sea level. So it’s a bit cooler due to elevation. 

Sunrise this morning...

Riley and I enjoyed our morning drinks, discussing our plans and getting ready to head out. Today is a tour day and we are planning to tour Joshua Tree National Park and head over to Twentynine Palms on the other side of the park, which is about 40 miles away. We once again had all things necessary just in case we wanted to hike a trail or two.

Skid marks in the sky, it was black, I've never seen that before...

We were in the Dogsled by shortly after 9 am, but returned about 9:05 am because we’d forgotten the camera. Now I ask you  how is that possible, we’re going sight seeing? Oh well, it happens to the best of us. Back on the road we enjoyed the short drive to the Ranger station at the first campground, Cottonwood Springs. We slipped inside as the Rangers are now back to work, we paid our fee, $25 for 5 days use of the park, grabbed some literature, asked a few questions finding out that it is a $5 fee to use the dump station in the park.

The sun is up.....

Back on the road we headed northerly and enjoyed the sights of the park. Various rock types  all side by side, looking out of place but being naturally there. It’s odd to see. Flat split rocks,  huge boulders, solid rock faces, gravelly looking mountains, and so on. Amazing sights with various exhibit areas that are placards giving information about what you’re seeing, the plant and animal life, and some history. The park road is single lane traffic each way with pull offs  every so often, some paved, some not, also various trails and sights along the way are marked and parking lots are provided. 

The road winding along the valley floor.....

From home we had climbed upwards for a while only to fall down again into the valley floor. It’s vast and gently sloped in many areas, but not what I would consider to be flat, always a gentle slope as you can see in the distance when you look ahead. The road winds across the valley floor in a meandering serpentine thread going through numerous named washes such as Smoke Tree Wash, Porcupine Wash, etc. The vegetation on the valley floor is pretty consistent and nothing overly large grows there although some of the Smoke Trees would be considered pretty large bushes. Small Joshua trees are evident here and there, various forms of low growing bushes, such as sage, mesquite, etc dot the views. A few Teddy Bear Cactus are also evident but not overly abundant. 

A Joshua Tree....oddest things aren't they?

From the valley floor you once again begin to climb and the strangest thing occurs. Quite literally you drive into an area that is COVERED with Teddy Bear Cactus, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, they are on both sides of the parkway, tall, short, medium heights with the light green fuzzy looking tops and the long brown stalks below. There is a parking lot with at least 18 spots and it was almost full both times we passed by. On our way home we stopped in to have a look. There is a 1/4 mile loop that allows you to walk through some of these cacti, but warns of bees in the area , with a first aid kit chained to the fence  I’m certain it contains a few syringes full of medical marvel for bee stings in case of an allergic reaction. The funny thing is that as soon as you leave the Teddy Bear Cactus Garden and go around a huge rock formation, you no longer see ANY for a while, then slowly you see one or two off in the distance but nothing out of the ordinary. It is simply stunning to see this amazing carpet of Teddy Bear Cactus for such a short distance. 

I just love these boulders. Immature Joshua Trees in the right front, they look like Yucca's.

From the Cactus Garden you continue to climb again and this time the elevation reaches just over 4400 feet above sea level. Here the world changes. A few camp grounds dot the upper reaches as well as numerous types of huge rocks, with names like Jumbo Rocks, Skull Rock, White Tank Rock, Twin Tanks all having hiking trails or campgrounds with areas for parking. Here also you begin to see mature Joshua Trees, they are the strangest trees and literally take over the vegetation scene and can be seen every where. The road continues to wind around showing off mountains, behind more mountains, behind more mountains. The view is awesome. 

Snow capped mountains in the background and Joshua Trees in the foreground.

We opted to check out Hidden Valley, where legend seems to loom that the valley was used for grazing rustled cattle until the heat died down. The valley is surrounded by huge rocks, boulders, split rock walls, with a trail that winds, twists and turns in a circle with the valley as part of the trail. It’s very busy and the trails aren’t wide in some places so waiting for others to move along the trail is often necessary. The loop is a mile long and we managed it with little difficulty. We did take our sticks but Riley used her only a couple of times while I didn’t use mine at all. Back at the Dogsled we headed off to Twentynine Palms. 

Look at all of those Joshua Trees

The roadway starts to fall long before you reach the north gate Ranger Station on Utah Trail. You can see the town of Twentynine Palms for a vey long way spreading out in the valley below you. When we reached Twentynine Palms the elevation was reading 1850 feet at one point. So you know it’s a long way down from the top. 

Here they line the roadway in the park...

We found a Popa John’s pizza which we had for lunch. We also wanted to find a mailbox but no matter where we looked could not find a post office nor a mail box, but we did find a mail carrier and the nice lady took our post cards for us. From there we started back home. The GPS was not our friend today, she wanted us to go AROUND the park instead of through the park. She sent us off to the west. I told Riley we were going the wrong way and finally turned around and found the way myself. I’m not sure what’s up with that but it’s truly annoying. 

It was really windy here as you can see by my hair but you can see we are having a great time.

We were back to the Igloo by 2:30 pm and basically just relaxed from then. I even managed a little nap on the couch around 5 pm. I was just tuckered right out. The temps in the truck I noticed at one point was reading 63F/17 C but the wind made it much colder than that. The wind is always a factor here as it seems to blow pretty much every day. Today one needed a heavy sweater or jacket to be outside. Tonight the wind is still blowing quite strongly. 

Hidden Valley

Riley made herself some dinner as I wasn’t hungry but it smelled wonderful. I will admit I didn’t get the sunset tonight as I was napping but the sky afterward looked pretty special with lots of reds in it. Sorry I missed it but well, it couldn’t be helped. Napping was more important. 

We climbed along this trail to reach Hidden Valley

So there you have it, our day in the park. We managed to hike about a mile and a quarter today which was more than enough. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the park, along with the immersion into Twentynine Palms. A few of the trails we passed have beckoned me to come for a closer look and at some point I may just do that, or perhaps next year when we’re back in the area we’ll have a go at them then. One never knows. 

Entering or leaving the trail for Hidden Valley. This view is overlooking the parking lot in the front of the picture.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed your visit. Please feel free to leave a comment, I look forward to reading them and hearing your thoughts. 

The Cactus Garden, see how they line both sides of the road way?

Until next time…. take care, be safe,

Look at all those cacti, this is just a very few....

A bit closer up, see them all? Just a few in this picture too.

The Cacti are starting to bloom....

Deb 

Windy, cooler, hiking....

Our Location: Joshua Tree National Park BLM, West entrance, California


A good night’s sleep last night had me awake  around 5:30 am a much better time than the 2 am of the night before. Much cooler this morning than it has been for a while, however we’re not complaining, we don’t have to shovel anything and it’s no longer raining. We have clear blue skies and a wonderful looking day ahead of us.

Good morning from Joshua Tree National Park BLM

Outside this morning to catch a few sunrise pictures around 6:30 am but nothing spectacular, it just kind of popped all of a sudden and with no clouds of any kind, there was very little light show. I did walk around a bit snapping a few pictures. Last night we heard some revving for awhile, I thought it was a Road Trek behind us that might have been caught in the sand, but this morning I noticed it wasn’t the Road Trek, it’s a pick up and he’s pretty much buried. The bumper is a few inches off the ground. I know we all think the next attempt will be the one that will get us ‘unstuck’ don’t we?

I like this picture

The spots here fill up close to dark, and people park just about anywhere they can find a wide spot in the road after dark. Probably a really smart idea since it’s hard to see the soft sand at night. When day time comes they start moving out and some times they come back but not always. I figured last night there was about 20 in my sight when I was out taking my pictures this morning. It’s a popular spot.
 

I think he's stuck...don't you?

We have no plans for today but we’ll be out doing something, since the weather looks nice although cooler than it has been and with strong gusts of winds as well.  We’re thinking we might go into the park  and so the higher elevations will already be cooler so we’ll just have to dress accordingly. 

And that half a Jeep pulled him out...

We’ve only heard a few generators here even though we are in pretty close proximity. John the fella across the middle drive here runs his each morning for about an hour and again each evening for about an hour. It’s very quiet and with the windows and door closed we truly don’t hear it much. More like a white noise at times.
 

One of the trees at the beginning of our hike...

I was just finishing up my fresh grapefruit, courtesy of my sister in law Janet, when I noticed an older orange jeep coming into the spot where the truck is stuck. I donned my shoes and fleece sweater to go watch. The jeep was able to pull him out with a fair bit of tires spinning and sand flying but still able to get him unstuck. I didn’t get a really good look but I’m pretty certain it was a big Ford dually that’s been here since we’ve arrived. I didn’t bring the camera and so I don’t have any pictures of the event.
 

We hiked the Mastadon Mine Loop Trail

Back home we decided it was time to get out and about. I know Riley was kind of dragging her heels a bit but I just let her take her time getting herself ready. We climbed into the Dogsled and headed his nose NORTH into Joshua Tree National Park.
 

Looking back toward the Dogsled .....

It’s a steady uphill climb from I-10 to this BLM parking area and it continues uphill from that as well. Not an abrupt hill but a very steady, even long grade. We pulled off on a few of the side spots that allows such things and took a few pictures enjoying the scenery and the view. We continued along until we arrived at the Ranger Station/Fee station, pulled in expecting to pay the fee of $25 for use over the next 7 days, as well ask a few questions about how to find Hidden Valley and to get a couple of maps helping us decide where to go. Sounds easy right? Hmm …. the office is closed due to government appropriations blah, blah, blah. There will be no emergency services available, no garbage dumpsters emptied, no services of any kind, meaning no bathrooms, etc. Hmm…. okay so I guess we can head into the park and just do what ever it is we want to do. 

We just came from over there...

Once again we climbed back into the Dogsled and off we went into the park. Wish we’d of brought our garbage as there are bins everywhere. They even have a dump station. We drove to the very end of the road where the trail heads are located. We discussed what we wanted to do and decided we’d at least take a short walk to see what the trails are like. I had already thought ahead and have been leaving my small back pack in the truck along with walking sticks and lots of water. So we put 3 bottles of water into the backpack, grabbed our walking sticks, left our hats (due to the strong gusty winds), along with the camera and off we headed. We enjoyed the first part of the trail very much. We then came to a ‘fork’ in the road which required a decision. We could make the small loop around Mastadon Mine Loop Trail it would be 1.4 miles, plus the .9 miles to reach this particular sign, or we could take the longer straight route to Lost Oasis which was 3.4 miles plus the .9 miles already walked. The Lost Oasis would have been too much for Riley I think since she hasn't been walking much. We opted for the shorter route and truly enjoyed it a great deal. There were a few spots I had to help her but not many. She managed to find her way even in some of the tougher spots and since I thought she should lead to set the pace I  just let her find the way. She did very well. She’s very proud of herself and I too am very proud of her. She made it the whole way without any issues of any kind. Well except for a blister on her baby toe. We will now be hauling band aids in the back pack not just in the truck. 

We climbed up those....

The route was quite steep in places with rock steps and smooth rock surfaces to climb,along with some sandy washes and rougher paths to follow. She did very well and took her time as I kept telling her we have all day, or at least until dark which is hours away still. We have plenty of water and we can’t get lost if we stick to the trail. The trail was narrow at times but she was able to navigate with very little help from me for most of the way. We encountered a few folks and we simply stepped aside and let them go past us and we continued at our slower pace. 

See the water over there?

At one point we could see a body of water off in the distance. I don’t think it’s the Salton Sea as I think it’s further away but it appeared to be a fairly large area covered in water. We could see for a long distance in most directions and it was truly an amazing sight. We found the top of the mountain to be very windy and the canyon’s were as well but it was more of a wind tunnel there as the mountain top was just a very windy place to be. It was cool to almost cold. 

Looking back toward the now closed Ranger Station and Cottonwood campgrounds...

We found our way back to the Dogsled with no trouble and upon checking the time we had been just about 2 hours hiking our way around there. That includes stopping for a few rest breaks, some pictures and our careful pace. I was quite pleased that Riley was able to make it the entire way with no issues. We both agreed it was a fantastic hike. 

Can you see the lake now (center)? That far ridge on the left is the dark mountain range we see when we look our dining room window.

We checked out the Cottonwood Campgrounds area but would never fit in any of the spots. We are under the length limit but it’s too tight in my opinion  for us to get in the spots comfortably. 

 

That's us on the top of Mastadon Peak.....

We arrived back home in less than 10 minutes. Inside we both sat down to relax for a bit and I offered to make salads for lunch but I got sidetracked with a bit of  a reno issue and so while I fixed that Riley made lunch. As it is Sunday it’s her day to cook since we have pasta every Sunday. 

We walked along here too...

She added to our salads a ‘greens mixture’ we bought at Trader Joe’s that includes shredded Kale, Brussels Sprouts, and Red Cabbage (at least, possibly more). It was okay but I think would have been better with a thicker dressing than my Raspberry Vinaigrette. Lunch was excellent as we had wonderful salads of course, Cheesy Garlic Bread, and Spaghetti with sauce, jazzed, from a bottle. Thank you Miss Riley!!!

We managed to squeeze through that opening....

After doing the dishes, cleaning up a bit we both headed off to read. I noticed the stuck truck was hooked on and pulled out with trailer in tow. Guess once stuck was enough. After reading for about an hour I worked a bit more on my post and once again edited some pictures taken while in the park today. I’m not going to post too many pictures as I don’t want to over load anyone with them. 

This is the old Mastadon Mine, started around 1930, owned by the Huley family. Wasn't the big strike they hoped for, at it's best it produced $744 per ton.

So after reading for a bit more, I grabbed the camera and headed outside. A nice sunset for sure, but it’s still a bit windy and it will be cool over night. So I think we’ll turn on the heater for a while before bedtime. 

We walked this path too..

So there you have it, our day here in California’s Joshua Tree National Park area. It was fun, educational and entertaining. We enjoyed it a great deal. 

Riley blew a tire, seems there was a stone on the INSIDE instead of the outside of her tire....

 Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment. 

Sunset tonight....

Love that fire in the sky....

Until next time… take care, be safe,
 

The end of a fantastic day......

Deb