An Afternoon Adventure - Joshua Tree National Park
Explor Date: October 18 of 2020
So things don’t always go as planned, no matter who or what you think you know. Nature doesn’t care if you’re in shape or not, and the desert will often try to kill you, with its dreaded strategy, Death by a Thousand Tiny Stickers. And then of course, there’s THE MAN. That maker of rules, that stringer of wire, that author of signs. Well, I should jump off that train of thought before it really gets up a head of steam.
La Habra was in the rearview shortly after noon, the Exploratruck heading out to JT to see what could be found on a Sunday afternoon. Two locations which hadn’t yet explored, each with some objects that had been simmering on my back burners for many years. I was going to try to find one this afternoon and save the other for Monday morning.
I made a quick detour in the town of Joshua Tree, to visit Mitch Miller at his photo gallery. It was great to meet in person after having been Facebook friends for a number of years. If you haven’t seen his landscape photography, please check out his Fine Earth Photography website, it’s got some amazing shots.
Getting into the park, it was hard to believe all the campgrounds were full on a Sunday afternoon. Wasn’t too long ago when explorers were able to find a site to camp anytime they visited, but those were the good old days, I guess. Even so, Park Blvd. was not too crowded and all of the parking areas and turnouts had space available. Somewhere near Hidden Valley, I found the spot, packed up a few things and headed off into the desert.
Piñon Ridge showing off many of its trees. It’s a wonder how they can grow way up on the sides of these cliffs, there can’t be much soil to support them.
After hiking for perhaps three quarters of a mile, disaster struck, in the form of a three-string wire fence. No Trespassing sign in place. Forward progress halted. In truth, I had expected this to happen, but had hoped it wouldn’t. Maybe some other time, I thought. Heading back to my truck brought about some other photo opportunities, so the Nikon clicked happily away.
If you wait long enough, Joshua Trees will stop and pose. They love the camera.
That big chunk of quartz monzanite out there is part of the Candy Bar area of climbing rocks, it’s called “Little Hunk.” Off to its right, the boulder sitting on top is called “The Chair.” This entire area is a great place to spend the day exploring.
And of course there’s some folks who ruin things for everyone. But maybe the driver swerved to miss a desert tortoise or a coyote. Let’s hope so, anyway.
It never hurts to get a little high in the park, by climbing up some rocks! Some elevation gives a nice perspective. By the way, even in late afternoon, it was still HOT.
Whenever I see a huge slice of rock like this that has cleaved off from somewhere up above, I always think how amazing it would be to see it happen in person. From a safe distance. And be lucky enough to capture it on video. While eating a donut. And drinking hot chocolate. Sitting in a camp chair. In the shade. Ok, that’s enough background on my likes….
Every now and then, the urge to try some black and white in post processing surfaces. Which one do you like better?
Daylight was beginning to wane and I wanted to find a spot to try for some sunset photos. While heading back to my truck, I ran across one of these. Is it a game trail? It has definitely seen a lot of use. It doesn’t seem likely that it was made by hikers, as it’s way too narrow. Maybe a Ranger might know.
“Blocking out the scenery and breaking my mind.” Unfortunately, there’s a reason. I get it and generally agree with it.
Upon returning to the truck, low and behold, the tailgate was down and the shell hatch was open. That’s a first for me, maybe it was telling me, “Yes, you can buy your America the Beautiful Senior Pass tomorrow. You’ve earned it, Mr. Forgetful Pants.” Luckily no bees or other critters were inside.
Driving back towards the west entrance, there are some nice, wide-open areas along each side of the road, with lots of Joshua Trees. Seemed like a good place to stop and try for some sunset shots.
One of the early ones.
And one of the last ones. It’s got a tiny sliver of moon :-)
Back in the truck, return to Yucca Valley. A quick stop at Del Taco and then to the motel room. It took about 30 minutes to remove all the tiny stickers and minute cactus spines from my socks, inside ankle portion of my boots and even their soles. I ended up throwing the socks away. Should have worn my snake/sticker guards…
Thanks for joining me on this adventure, feel free to click on the social media links to follow, new posts in the blogs are always tweeted when published.
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