Joshua Tree

Saturday, March 5, 2022

This morning we ate our provided breakfast and got on the road. Our choices were to go all the way back to Las Vegas near Harry Reid Airport (recently renamed from McCarran Airport) and take I-15 or a slightly longer route we’d never been on through the California desert. We elected for a new adventure. The way twisted and turned and climbed for over an hour up and over a large mountain range. We saw a bunch of bikers trying the same route in the opposite direction. They were going to have a difficult day. On the other side of the mountain we found Route 40 and had every expectation of taking that except for the fact that our GPS told us to take some long and lonely road through The Mohave National Preserve. We stopped the car and reset the GPS. It still said the same thing. We tried again but this time instead of using Apple Maps we used Google Maps. It agreed with Apple Maps. We figured that we had a full tank of gas, lots of water and some energy bars so we’d take the plunge.

The road was in decent condition but it had been a long time since it had been paved. Vegetation had started encroaching on the sides. We felt a little uneasy. For the first 20 minutes (it seemed a LOT longer) we had the entire road to ourselves. Finally we saw some traffic coming toward us from the opposite direction. It made us feel a lot better. By the time we hit 29 Palms, the town adjacent to Joshua Tree, we were starving so we headed into The Cactus Trails Cafe.

When we pulled up we saw people waiting outside. We took that as a good sign. Ten minutes later we were seated. Signs in the cafe said that they were understaffed. Translation: service would be slow. There were also signs by the cash register suggesting that if we paid in cash we would avoid a 3.5% surcharge. Slow service and surcharges; it doesn’t get any better. We ordered a cheese burger and a patty melt. Instead of fries we both ordered a garden salad (the end of days is near 😜). At least the food was good.

By now it was almost 2:00 pm. Our check-in time was 3:00 pm but we gave it shot anyway. We knew when we booked it that the place had a rather unusual look to it. It was a collection of old-time looking cabins in a rustic setting. We weren’t sure what to expect. The woman confirmed that our room was ready, walked us to our cabin, gave us a tour and even suggested a couple of places for breakfast. She was wonderful.

Our room was large, comfortable and spotlessly clean. We booked a while ago and had forgotten that it came with a complete kitchen, too. We were delighted. We quickly settled in and headed to the park.

With our newly minted park pass we whizzed by the entrance booth and were on our way. The road twisted and climbed for about 15 minutes before we saw any Joshua Trees – and then there were many. That first day we drove the length of the park. We had intended to do several hikes but the temperature had dropped into the 40s and the winds were howling. It was rather unpleasant to be outside the car for too long. We stopped along the way a number of times for photo ops and did a short hike around Jumbo Rocks. We learned that Joshua Trees are actually members of the Yucca family and, in fact, are not trees at all – they are plants. They grow slowly at about two inches per year and live to be about 140 years old, although they have been know to live several times that amount.

The weather the next day was supposed to be a lot better. Before heading back to the hotel we stopped at a supermarket and got some fried chicken for dinner and some cold cereal and milk for breakfast the next day.

Sunday, March 6, 2022

The idea for Joshua Tree was suggested to President Teddy Roosevelt by Minerva Hoyt. In 1906 the park was established as a National Monument. It became a National Park in 1994. To honor Ms. Hoyt a campground and a mountain bear her name.

Today was Sunday and we noticed that the park was much more crowded than the previous day. The weather was much better and we’d planned a large list of things to do. Our first hike was to Arch Rock. It was a short hike and along the way we saw signs to Heart Rock. We made the detour and found a large boulder in the shape of a heart. After a few selfies we headed over to Arch Rock. It was easy to see from the path but actually getting to it was a little tricky. There was a long line of hikers patiently waiting their turn to climb into the arch and take selfies. Everyone was happy and talkative and more than willing to take pictures for one another. It was a lot of fun.

One of the most unusual things you notice in the park is a scattering of large clumps of boulders that seem to come out of nowhere. These pieces of granite have been pushed to the surface through volcanic activity over many eons. Weathering has caused them to crack and take interesting shapes. It reminded us of the alien planet on the movie, “Galaxy Quest”. Those scenes, however, were filmed in Utah.

Next we drove towards the far entrance of the park in search of the Cholla Cactus Garden. As we rounded a bend all of a sudden the landscape was full of Cholla (pronounced Choy-ya). Evidently there is a relatively small area where they thrive within the park. We parked at the garden and walked around the path where a large patch was fenced in for our viewing pleasure. They were tall and thin with black trunks and white fuzzy looking tops. Of course they were covered in nasty thorns.

Further down the road was a collection of Ocotillo. They look like a cactus with lots of long thin branches emanating from the roots but they are actually classified as a bush. These bushes still have thorns. Several of them had small red flowers on them.

As we continued the drive there were no more Joshua Trees. This part of the park is part of the Colorado Desert and it has a completely different look and feel. The Joshua Trees are located in the part of the park located in the Mohave Desert. We reached the entrance and stopped for a lunch break. We ate some of the energy bars that we’d been carrying with us.

On the way back we stopped at Cap Rock for a nice nature trail. All along the way there were signs describing the vegetation. We finally learned that the small, hairy trees that we’d assumed were young Joshua Trees were actually Mohave Yucca plants. It was a load off our minds.

We tried to get into the parking lot of Hall of Horror several times but it was always full. We’d read about all of the attractions but had never seen any description of this site. With a name like that we were intrigued. It turns out that it is a hard-core rock climbing site.

Along the road we found bunch of nice looking Joshua Trees and stopped to take some pictures. Among them was a tall, skinny tree that was the tallest tree in the park. It must have been over 60 feet, which is quite unusual.

Our last stop was Skull Rock. The guide said it was a short hike but we found it right alongside the road. It kind of resembles a skull, Darth Vader’s helmet or Voldemort depending on your viewing angle. There was a long line of people waiting to take pictures from the best vantage point. We got several.

For dinner we went back to the supermarket and got a bag of Caesar Salad. We picked the left over fried chicken and added it in. It was a nice, light dinner.

Joshua Tree is definitely one of the smallest parks we’ve seen. Even so, it is a lot of fun and is definitely worth a trip. There are nice trails, nature walks, hiking, rocking climbing and four wheeling just waiting for you.

P.S. We’re still trying to cure the problem of the missing pictures in the emails. To that end we’re trying a new format. If your email still doesn’t contain any pictures you can see the full article here. Fingers crossed!