Week 30.1: Joshua Tree National Park

In late January, we gave our noses a respite from the smell of the Salton Sea and headed to Joshua Tree National Park.  Beloved by southern Californians and immortalized in numerous songs (even a U2 album), the park encompasses a vast and beautiful desert, as well as numerous examples of its namesake, the Joshua Tree.  It was an unforgettable day.

Cuddly Cactus

Our initial impression upon entering Joshua Tree (through its southern entrance) is that it was empty.  Most of the good stuff is in the northwestern corner, and as the park map makes plain, the other three quadrants contain mostly… nothing.

It was nonetheless a really enjoyable area, just a little lackluster after having visited the incredible Big Bend.  Guess we’re national park snobs now!  But soon, we came to the awesome Cholla Cactus Garden, named after the pretty cholla cactus.

They’re known as the “Teddy Bear Cholla,” and they’re kind of cute!  But they’re also very murderous.  Even the slightest touch can cause barbs to be implanted in your skin, where they hurt like hell and are nearly impossible to remove.  A placard near the garden provided the following quotation:

“If the plant bears any helpful or even innocent part in the scheme of things on this planet, I should be glad to hear of it.” — J Smeaton Chase

There are thousands of cholla cactuses clustered in a small area at Joshua Tree, with a little path winding its way through them.  Strangely, they seem to be found nowhere else in the park.  We enjoyed strolling through the cholla garden, but we definitely did so carefully.

Rocking Out

After our careful exploration of the cactus garden, we headed further northwest, to the “White Tanks” and imaginatively-named “Jumbo Rocks” campground area.  Here, we found huge boulders, scattered across the landscape in fascinating shapes and formations.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in an area that looked like it came right out of the Flintstones.  (We’re not the only ones who have made this connection!)  We wandered around through fields of giant boulders, many of which take on familiar shapes – ears, battlements, a Martian’s head.  It was surreal and awesome.

We soon came to a large natural archway, which Jake climbed up nearly gracefully.  The top turned out to be a little too difficult to reach, but he got pretty close.  (The theme of the day was: “don’t die at Joshua Tree.”)

We also visited a boulder known as Skull Rock, for reasons that should be apparent.  We have to say, in real life it wasn’t too impressive, but the face really comes out in the photos.

Joshua Trees!

Continuing on, we soon came to the park’s star attraction:  Joshua Trees.  These tall, spindly trees are only found in this region of the world – although not only in the park – and they grow into fantastic, gnarled shapes.  A large Joshua Tree often looks like it’s tying itself into knots!  (See the one on the far right below.)

To survive in the desert, the leaves are long, narrow, and waxy, preventing water loss.  Since there are very few other sources of shade, Joshua Trees are an integral part of the desert ecosystem.  They grow in huge, carefully spaced groves, and are endlessly fun to photograph.  We stopped the car about 12 times while driving, just to hop out and take a picture of this cool Joshua Tree, then that one… you get the picture.

Lunar Light

One great thing about National Parks is that there’s always something else to do.  After seeing our fill of Joshua Trees, we stopped at Keys View for a gorgeous look out over the desert hills, and the Coachella Valley beyond.  Our pictures don’t quite capture the panoramic effect, so you’ll have to use the power of imagination.

Afterwards, we explored an area called “Hidden Valley,” which was entirely encircled by stone until a hole was blown open by cattle ranchers.  Joshua Tree is big on literal names, apparently.  We walked a mile loop inside Hidden Valley, enjoying the scenery, which was a mixture of boulders, different boulders, and trees.

Near the end of our hike, we were treated to a full moon rising over the valley cliffs, resulting in one of our favorite pictures from our entire trip (the featured image at the top).

All Downhill From Here

With night falling, we headed back to the Salton Sea from Hidden Valley after a long but very enjoyable day.  The drive back itself was actually pretty great too, because Joshua Tree rises in elevation from south to north.  After slowly making our way uphill all day, we rode back in neutral from ~6,000 feet to lower than sea level.  It took about an hour total, and amazingly, we almost never needed to use the gas pedal the entire way.  We have to say, quietly gliding through a national park beneath the full moon was an amazing experience.

As we exited the park, we were treated to one last delight:  a spectacular sunset over the valley below.  The desert is awesome.

Roadtrip Status

Still alive?  Check.

Where are you now?  Portland, Oregon, where we’ve had an awesome string of weather (until today).

Next location?  Seattle, Vancouver, etc.

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Week 24+ : Driving Down and Climbing Up in Phoenix

After a short stay in Holbrook, Arizona to visit the Petrified Forest, we had hoped to head to the Grand Canyon.  Unfortunately, it was December, and the weather at the Grand Canyon was literally freezing (and also snowing).  Rather than freeze ourselves in our little metal house, we decided to take the lead of snowbirds everywhere and fly south for the winter.  We changed our destination to Phoenix, via Flagstaff, Arizona.

Diminishing Turns

We knew nothing about Flagstaff before we traveled through it, but now we know one thing:  it’s really high.  Flagstaff sits at an ear-popping 6,900 feet, and as a result, the landscape is more “alpine forest” than the Arizona desert landscape you probably picture.  As it turns out, Flagstaff sits along a mountainous ridge that extends over most of Arizona; Phoenix, much lower in the Valley of the Sun, is more of an outlier than Flagstaff!

Since we performed our typical “none” level of research, we knew “none” of this at the time.  However, we could tell the elevation was high as we were driving through Flagstaff, due to our homemade altimeter: a bag of Tostitos we bought in Florida and never opened.  We leave it in the RV now because it is pressurized at sea level, and it’s fun to watch it expand when we travel to places at a higher elevations.  As we passed through Flagstaff, we genuinely thought it might explode.  [Ed. note:  we took pictures, but sadly lost them.]

From Flagstaff, we descended 6,000 feet in about 100 miles to get to Phoenix, which sounds scary but was quite well managed.  It took longer than expected, but we did make it to our beautiful campsite at Phoenix, spirits high and Tostitos bag deflated.  This would be as far as we would go for the next month.

Aged Like Fine Wine

Our first impression of Phoenix was that it was much nicer than we imagined.  It was winter, so unlike this classic Arrested Development bit, it wasn’t hot.  In fact, the temperature was quite comfortable, and since we were staying at a county park outside of the city proper, the landscape was surprisingly green.  All the buildings were nice and new (thanks, housing bubble!), but retail signage was subdued, with most of the stores located in brown, adobe-style buildings.  (Aesthetically pleasing, although a bit confusing in practice.)

Almost everyone we met was friendly and relaxed, in part we were pretty far outside the city center, but also because everybody around us was a retiree.  Now, we certainly expected there would be a fair number of older folks around, but the sheer uniformity of it was staggering.  The deli counter people at the (gloriously huge) grocery store we went to were retirement age, as were the checkout clerks at Target.  (Gotta make those balloon mortgage payments, we guessed.)  Everywhere we went, the grey-haired workers were friendly, hard-working, and slow-moving.

It wasn’t bad, really, but it was certainly unique.

Cactus Fight!

We were in Phoenix in early December, and as the holidays approached, most of our time was spent running errands and making preparations for our upcoming roadtrip-within-a-roadtrip. We then returned to Phoenix in January, but after traveling across the country twice (see next blog post!), we didn’t have the stomach for much travel sightseeing.

In other words: we didn’t take many pictures.

However, we did spend a fair bit of time hiking within the park we were staying at.  There was a nice trail which went up and around a mountain, offering beautiful views of the valley Phoenix sits in, along with many very tall cacti.

Obviously, we enjoyed this all in a classy and respectful fashion.

My money is on the Saguaro.

The Straw That Broke

We did do one adventure while in Phoenix, climbing Camelback Mountain, a tall mountain which sits very close to downtown Phoenix.  Before we went, we read online that it was tough, but as seasoned-ish hikers, we assumed it wouldn’t be a problem.  We didn’t even bat an eye at the “double black diamond” designation at the base of the trail.

Friends, let us tell you, Camelback Mountain is no joke.  It climbs to a height of 2,700 feet very steeply, and the final section involves scrambling around and over huge boulders, propped up precariously and proximately to a cliff.  They try to make the trail clear by marking it with blue paint, but it’s pretty easy to lose it, especially near the top.

Oh yes… there’s the trail.

The hike is as exhausting as it is legitimately dangerous – multiple people have died, and dozens have to be rescued every year.  In fact, a man saved a woman from falling off the edge by grabbing her ankle just a month ago!

In other words, Camelback is intense.  That said, the view from the top is truly spectacular.  Definitely recommend, but be ready for a workout – and tread cautiously.

Roadtrip Status

Still alive?  Check.

Where are you now?  The tiny town of Trinidad, California, in the land of old-growth redwoods.

Next location?  We’re here for a week, then heading further up the California coast.  Get ready for a lot of redwood pictures.

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