Joshua Tree National Park (Part II)

February 13-21, 2014 (oops! 2015): A synopsis of our adventures. (Part II)

Now, to wrap up our adventures in Joshua Tree National Park.  We’ve got a few more days in the park . . . and a few more adventures to experience, so here goes.

  

Camp neighbors we met shortly before entering the park raved about the self-guided driving geology tour that was an absolute “must do”.

Alrighty then!  We too must do it!  We’ve never been steered wrong by well-intentioned camp neighbors before.  Right?

We set off into the park through the North Entrance.  We make a quick stop at Skull Rock along the way.  Yeah, I guess it looks like a skull.

We turn off on Geology Tour Road with our trusty guide in hand. 

The first sentence in our brochure says, “This is your guide through some of the most fascinating landscape in Joshua Tree National Park.”  

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  I drive – Jack reads our way through the tour.  Well, 18 miles later . . .  18 miles of washboard roads . . . 18 miles of rocks and sand and dust and ruts and hot sun . . . what looked pretty awesome on paper turned out to just not be our thing.  So much for taking advice from camp neighbors . . .  again. 

Back on the main road we head west.  We gotta find something really great to make up for that not-so-cool 18 mile drive.  Jack’s checking the park map and says, “Let’s take a drive down to Keys View.  See what’s there.”

Oops!  Just passed it.  A U-turn, back in the direction we came from, a right turn south, and we’re on our way to Keys View.

We drive through the tallest and largest stand of Joshua trees we’ve seen in the entire park.  It’s absolutely beautiful.  Unfortunately, turnouts are few and far between and there’s no place to pull off for photos.

Reaching the parking lot for Keys View, we take the short walk up to the lookout point.

In the hazy distance, we can barely make out Palm Springs 20 miles away.  To the south the outline of the northern edge of the Salton Sea is just visible.  “Haze” is California’s fancy name for what the rest of the country calls “smog”.  “Haze” – it does have a nice ring to it.  Winds off the west coast funnel the haze through Banning Pass where it settles over the Coachella Valley for these fine folks to enjoy right along with their LA neighbors to the west.  Share and share alike I always say.

During a ranger-led hike we discover that Joshua trees bloom in the higher elevations first, which makes Keys View the ideal place to spot new buds.  Once blossomed out, the blooms will last up to 2 months.  It would be beautiful to see a forest of Joshua trees a month from now.  But alas, we will be off on other adventures long before then.

I almost forgot to tell the most amazing story about Joshua trees that even impressed Darwin – their pollination process.

Joshua trees and Yucca moths have a symbiotic relationship.  Since the trees don’t produce nectar, the Joshua tree relies on Yucca moths for pollination.  With their tentacle-like appendages that grow out of their jaws, the moths collect pollen from Joshua tree flowers. They intentionally spread pollen onto the female part of each flower they crawl onto.

The moth lays eggs on the immature seeds of the tree before she pollinates the flowers.  When the eggs hatch into caterpillars they will eat some of the seeds before beginning their cocooning process.  In order for the new caterpillars to eat, the moth needs to ensure that there will be Joshua tree seeds.  In order for that to happen, the moth must pollinate the flower.

Even Charles Darwin considered it “the most remarkable pollination system ever described.”

A memorable sunrise greets us on our last full day at Indian Cove Campground in the park.

It’s been a fun and educational nine days in Joshua Tree National Park.  We’re heading east to enjoy a little scenery with water in it for a few days – the Colorado River along the CA-AZ border.  Until next time – be safe.

Joshua Tree National Park: The convergence of two deserts.

February 13-21, 2014: Adventures among the rocks. (Part I)

Joshua Tree near sunset at Keys View.

  Two deserts converge: Mojave and Colorado.

The Mojave Desert makes up the western half of the park at elevations over 3,000 feet.  This is where you’ll find the park’s namesake – the Joshua Tree.  Being a high desert there are also pinion pine, junipers, scrub oak, and yuccas.  Wildlife seems scant but over the course of our nine days we see chuckwallas, lizards, grey squirrels, chipmunks, bats, and black-tailed jackrabbits.  Although we made every effort to spy the elusive bighorn sheep we did not succeed in that venture.

A view of our campsite at Indian Cove Campground on the northwest side of the park – the Mojave Desert.  The massive rock outcroppings resemble a colossal Jenga puzzle. 

The Colorado Desert on the eastern half of the park falls below 3,000 feet in elevation, and is part of the Sonoran Desert.  Creosote bushes are the mainstay plants.  We did see large ocotillo and cholla cactus patches as we drove through the Pinto Basin.

Every day is wash day.

Whether we stay near camp and hike a wash or trek out deeper into the park, every day is “hike a wash day”.

 We take a long hike through a wash near camp and come across this monzogranite rock with a hole through it.  How interesting is that?  This isn’t sandstone – it’s granite!

Another morning we meander off toward another wash.  See the Mini-Moose in the distance below the rock formations?

We drop down into the wash and before long come to this!  We climb back up out of the wash and hike down a ways looking for another entry point.

Sliding back into the wash, Jack winds through rocks and bushes with me trailing behind.  Eventually, we make our way back to our campsite for some well-deserved R&R in our lounge chairs – and a couple of ice cream bars.

Speaking of rock climbing, Joshua Tree is a world-class climbing and bouldering mecca!

Here’s a close up of the rock stacks that make up the northern edge of the Wonderland of Rocks here in the park.  Their formation is quite interesting, although complicated, so I won’t elaborate.  Suffice it to say, volcanic molten rock, uplift, water penetration, and erosion.  A few eons later and you’ve got a pretty fantastic rock climbing heaven going on.

With over 400 climbing formations and 8,000 climbing routes people are drawn from around the world to enjoy “rock sports”.  Regardless of your skill level there’s a rock activity for you. 

A family that climbs together, stays together . . . hopefully by not losing any kids down the side of a cliff.

Click on the photo and see if you can find the family climbing this formation.  Also, below is the close up that I took.  Dad in red, a little kiddo in yellow, mom bringing up the rear (Also her rear quite exposed in this shot.  Sorry mom.) – and another young child playing at the edge of the boulder waiting for the rest of the family to join him atop.

 What drives young women to climb mountains?  Perhaps it’s the young men in their lives.

A young couple directly above our campsite climb to the top of the formation and take the quick way down by rappelling.

And, here's a young couple at the Hemingway climbing formations. 
   

This young woman struggled repeatedly to reach the top from this point, as her male companion waits patiently atop the cliff.  It was so strenuous we could hear her labored breathing as she reached for her next finger hold and pulled herself farther up the rock face toward her goal.  We moved along the trail to watch others in their ventures up other climbing routes.  When we returned along the trail fifteen minutes later she had indeed summited the formation.

I could go on and on with photos of all the rock climbers we’ve watched over the last nine days, but I will move on to other activities.  It has certainly been an entertaining spectator sport for us.  We’re quite content hiking on tamer terrain.

49 Palms Oasis – How do you end up with an oasis out in the middle of the Mojave Desert?

Joshua Tree is crisscrossed with fault lines.  In fact, the San Andreas Fault skirts along the south side of the park.  When ground water reaches a fault plane it can rise back to the surface and create an oasis.  There are five such oases in the boundaries of the park.

We drive the short distance to the 49 Palms Oasis trailhead, slather on sunscreen, grab the camera and our water bottles and we’re off.  This is a 3-mile hike over a couple of ridges where the trail then drops down into a valley to the oasis.

Jack leads the way on the trail with the oasis before us.

While we’re luxuriating at the oasis, a young man points out a Kit Fox feeding on a carcass back under the palms.  We observe for a few minutes and then let him alone to his meal and start on our way back up the trail, over the ridges, and down to the parking lot.  Another adventure under our belts. 

We have a few more days and more fun escapades in Joshua Tree.  I’ll wrap up that up next time.  After that we're headed east to enjoy a few days relaxing along the Colorado River.  Until next time – be safe.

Three strikes . . . we’re out of here.

February 4, 2015: Pilot Knob BLM, CA.

The Salton Sea.  Fowl?  Foul?  Or both?  I’ll explain below.

We leave Painted Rock Campground and eventually end up at Pilot Knob BLM campground just over the border into California on I-8.  We check out a few camping spots along the way – none of which meet our relatively low standards we've set for today.  So, here we are sitting on a flat piece of desert that the BLM has completely scraped clean of any vegetation, looking at I-8 to the north and the Mexican border to the south – and the border patrol all around us.  A couple of nights to regroup and figure out a direction to head and we’re on our way.  None too soon I might add.  Strike 1!

February 6, 2015: The Salton Sea and Box Canyon Road.

With camping reservations set to begin on February 13^th in Joshua Tree National Park, we have several days to kill.  A camp neighbor at Painted Rock suggested the east side of the Salton Sea where camping is plentiful.  At El Centro we exit I-8 and head north on SH111 along the scenic route toward the Salton Sea.  Arriving at the visitor center parking lot, our decision is already made.  Although the water fowl is bountiful and the view is pretty, the foul smell of dead fish leaves us unimpressed.

The photographer being photographed.  These ladies were working on a photo shoot.

 

We take the short walk down to the water’s edge.  The “sand” gets in our sandals and jabs into the bottoms of our feet.  Jack bends down and picks up a handful of . . . not sand, but crushed shells, bones, and who knows what else.  There’s no sand here.  Alright, we’re done here.  Strike 2!

Box Canyon Road is today’s Plan B.

The same camp neighbor also suggested Box Canyon Road for some great BLM camping, so we drive away from the Salton Sea heading north to Mecca.  A right and then left turn through town and we begin our drive up into Box Canyon Road.

Just outside of Mecca the valley is filled with lush crops, vineyards, and citrus fruit orchards.  It’s beautiful.  We leave the valley behind and climb into the canyon.  Brown mud-like cliffs rise on either side with the canyon floor appearing to be one large massive wash where rocks, tree limbs, and debris are left in piles.  Thirteen miles and not a single RV or trailer is in the entire canyon.  Perhaps they all washed away during the last rain.  This isn’t for us.  Strike 3!

What’s our Plan C?  Do we have a Plan C?

As we come to the end of the canyon we see I-10 ahead of us intersecting with Box Canyon Road which leads into the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.  Well, now what?  Crossing over the interstate we see campers strewn along a stretch of land to the west of the road into the park and set far off from the highway.  We pull in, find a spot that suits us, and chat with our new neighbors.  As we suspected, this is BLM land.  After 3 strikes in the last few days, we finally found a great place to lay our heads tonight.  Quiet neighbors, a pretty sunset, and a pitch black night sky.  Perfection.  Until next time – be safe. 

Pelicans on the Salton Sea.  Pretty.  Stinky.