We arrived at Joshua Tree around 3:30, and after a visit to the Visitor's Center, we were steered by probably the dorkiest park ranger ever (seriously, Sam and I both thought McFly) to a very nice camp site at Hidden Valley. After setting up our tent, we went over to the Hidden Valley nature walk and took a short 1 mile hike. And that's when we discovered the climbing of the rocks, aka the most fun activity you can ever have. All around our campsite were people with climbing gear, but it wasn't until we went on the trail that we saw people climbing with just their bare hands. We climbed a few small rock piles, but when we saw a group of people atop a huge rock structure that we knew what our goal should be. It was getting late though, so we decided that we'd get up early and do it in the morning. That night we watched the sun set over the camp grounds while feasting on Norweigan salmon, grilled asparagus and a spinach, cranberries and goat cheese salad (we stopped at Trader Joe's on our way out of LA). Mmmm, camping is the life.
Cleaning up though proved to be more difficult an endeavor. Since Joshua Tree is such an arid location, you have to bring in all your water with you, so cleaning up plates and the portable grill becomes a bit of a challenge. It makes you much more aware of your dependence on water though - I think all National Parks should do away with tap water so that people start thinking about it more.
It got dark around 7:30, so after cleaning up, we made some tea and and went into our tent to play cribbage and hit the sack. I think we were asleep by 9:30. So when I work up around 6:15, I had actually gotten a full night's sleep. It was pretty cold out, but the sun was starting to come up so I braved the world outside my nice warm sleeping bag to climb some rocks and watch the sun rise.
After the sun came up and we warmed up a bit, we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and headed back to the Hidden Valley hiking area to climb our big rocks. Amazingly, we made it pretty much to the top, even though we had our doubts at a few places. And we were able to make it back down! To celebrate our conquest, we made lots of bacon and eggs and chowed down back at the campsite.
A few hours of reading and napping in the shade later(in the shade, its actually quite cool, but the sun is brutal!), we decided upon the Ryan Mountain hike. Boy are looks deceiving on that one. You keep thinking your almost at the top, but then the trail loops over towards the adjacent peak. You loose sight of the trailhead/parking area about 1/3 of the way up and don't see the actual peak until you're probably 7/8th of the way there. Once you're at the top, though, you can see for miles. Hard work but worth it.
We had to head out of the park to get some more eggs and water, so we picked up some meat as well. Since we're a bit low on seasonings (read: none), we picked up the fajita mix the butcher had prepared, and boy was it tasty! We also puchased some paper plates and a dish cloth, so cleanup got a bit easier too. We slept better our second night of camping - I actually slept until 7, when it was pretty bright out, and Sam slept until ~7:30. We took our time making breakfast (eggs, sausage and tea), broke down the camp site and packed up the car, and then headed to do one last hike before hitting the road. 49 Palms Oasis. And what do you know - among the barren hills of Joshua Tree, thre was a little oasis tucked away with a huge stand of palm trees. Unfortunately, there was no sign post or anything once you got to the end of the trail, which is a bit unsatisfying since it wasn't exactly clear where the end end was, but also because there was no explaination of why such a place even exists. But it was still a neat place to see and it was great to have shade under the plams as a break from the hot sun. And with that nice rest, we headed back to the car and headed towards the Grand Canyon.
+ More pictures from Joshua Tree over at Flickr
Posted by dahl at October 3, 2007 9:29 PM