2 October 2021, Saturday
Our drive to Joshua Tree National Park is uneventful. We have reserved site 16 in Black Rock Canyon Campground. The campground is almost completely full. We cook dinner while it’s still light and then set up Wglwof, our Marmot Limelight tent. Alas – our neighbors are having a rather loud conversation well into the night. Not much rest for us!
3 October 2021, Sunday
After a breakfast of rehydrated Matzah Brei we drive toward the west entrance station. An enthusiastic volunteer at the visitor center gives us lots of suggestions for exploring Joshua Tree over the course of our 3 day stay. We must drive 5 more miles down Park Boulevard to enter the park proper. Once in the park we drive to Keys View. At 5185 feet elevation, it is the highest point to which you can drive in the park. From the overlook one can see the Coachella Valley below. To the left, visible on a clear day, is the Salton Sea, 35 miles away. We are lucky it is relatively clear today. Palm Springs is slightly to the right and Mount San Jacinto can be seen in the distance as it rises to 10,831 feet.
We drive back down from Keys View and stop to walk the nature trail at Cap Rock.
From there we pause briefly at Skull Rock and then turn right on Pinto Basin Road. We descend 2000 feet through Wilson Canyon, leaving the Mojave Desert behind and entering the drier, lower elevation Colorado Desert. We follow the road as far as the Cholla Cactus Garden where we walk the path, taking care not to get too close to the Chollas.
O and I are getting rather hungry so we leave the park seeking some take-out sandwiches. We order two delicious Ahi Tuna sandwiches at CrossRoads Cafe, returning to Hidden Valley Picnic Area to enjoy them. The sun is a bit lower now. O and I walk the beautiful Hidden Valley Nature Trail, a one mile loop, before returning to a nice shaded picnic table at the parking area.
Wandering through Hidden Valley
By the time we finish eating, the sun is setting. We drive towards Barker Dam and find a pull-off from which to watch the sun set and wait for the Milky Way to appear. Then we return to camp. It’s now Sunday night and only a few campers remain at Black Rock. We get a very good night’s sleep.
4th October 2021, Monday
We are up early again. Our plan is to hike Black Rock’s 4+ mile West Loop Trail before it gets too hot. I prepare some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a trail breakfast. We are on the trail by 7:15. As we walk I spy two coyotes loping by in the distance. I heard a pack of them yapping loudly – twice – during the night.
The Mojave Desert has its own kind of beauty – Joshua trees, giant yuccas, Utah junipers laden with berries, ocotillo (a small bush with stalks of tiny red flowers,) scrub oak, beavertail cacti, and our “favorite” – prickly pear. We also see many zebra tail lizards. They move so fast they seem to fly over the ground. O and I soak it in as we walk. We are glad of the morning clouds which help keep the temperature down a bit. We go through a liter and a half of water each as we hike, stopping half way to eat our sandwiches. I wish we had some coffee along! We pass only four other hikers and one horseback rider while we are out.
On our return to camp we cool off in the shade of Vincent and catch up with siblings while we have cell service. By now it’s lunch time and we’re hungry. PBJ’s don’t get you very far when hiking in the desert. We drive to the Frontier Cafe for a lunch of very tasty vegan BLT’s and a Sunrise Salad of baby kale, quinoa, almonds, and dried cranberries. We also find two good beers here: an Octoberfest dunkel and a honey blond ale. We sip the beers while waiting for our food. The restaurant is very busy. We finish the salad and part of our sandwiches, along with the beers and then drive back to Hidden Valley looking for a quiet place to finish our meal.
We had been planning to hike the Split Rock trail today as well, but we both agree that ice cream and relaxing at camp is a better idea. The hike will wait until tomorrow. We spend the afternoon enjoying our ice cream, reading, and playing fiddle. Tuning a fiddle in the desert is quite a project! Also, my bow has gotten severely dehydrated and is so taut I can’t loosen it!
We are ready for an early bedtime. Our neighbors tonight are a large family. I guess they don’t quite understand the concept of a dark skies park. They have a very bright white light on their picnic table and shine their flashlights in our eyes as they walk by and say hello. I’m hoping the Joshua tree next to our tent will help protect us a bit from their lights.
5th October 2021, Tuesday
It turns out that the large family was just using the adjacent campsite for a picnic and campfire. They packed up and left shortly before we went to bed. But the night was not quiet! Shortly after returning we began to see flashes of distant lightning with approximately a 30 second interval until we heard the rumble of thunder. Slowly the wind gusts picked up and the interval between flash and rumble shortened until the storm was upon us. Luckily O had gotten out of the tent earlier to tuck our camp chairs in Vincent so they wouldn’t blow away. Wglwof’s fly rattled in the wind, but the tent held up nicely in the storm. We had another round of rain before dawn.
By the time we wake in the morning everything is practically dry. O and I drive east in search of the Campbell Hill Bakery, recommended by a volunteer at the visitor center. We decide to go today since visiting the bakery before departure tomorrow would mean an extra 40+ miles of driving. We purchase a cinnamon roll for me for Wednesday’s breakfast and two strawberry poppy scones for O. They’re small! We also get two sandwiches for an early supper later today, a ciabatta to bring with us to our friends’ Meryl and Andy’s house tomorrow evening, and two cups of delicious coffee. We are gifted a slice of vegetarian pizza as well – maybe because I mention it’s our first visit to the bakery.
Pastries and lunch safely stowed, today’s breakfast is two excellent omelettes at the Frontier Cafe. After breakfast we head into the park to hike the two mile Split Rock Loop. It’s an enjoyable hike with beautiful scenery. And to make it even better, last night’s storm has ushered in clear, cooler weather.
After our hike we top off Vincent’s fuel for tomorrow’s drive, then stop at the North Visitor Center before re-entering the park. On a whim we drive back up to Key’s View to see if there’s any less haze after the storm. The air over the park is much clearer, but in the Coachella Valley haze from pollution to the West continues to partly obscure the view.
It’s now time for our final Joshua Tree hike. We drive over to the Barker Dam Trail, pack our sandwiches and begin the trail heading in a clockwise direction. This way we will see the petroglyphs before the sun drops too low. The trail is not hard to follow, even in reverse and the continued cool afternoon makes our walk especially enjoyable. We find the petroglyphs – although I think they look more like pictographs. Despite a prominent sign on a nearby post reading “Do Not Climb! Sensitive Cultural Area” there are two young people sitting up in the grotto right by the petroglyphs. Some people never learn!
We continue along the trail to Barker Dam. The lake behind the dam is dry now, but the area is beautiful. We enjoy our sandwiches on the rocks overlooking the dam. This is supposed to be a good area for birding and wildlife because of the moisture here, but all we see are a few tiny toads, some ravens and lots of humans, most of whom are quite friendly (the humans, that is.).
After sitting quietly for awhile O and I continue on our way, admiring the golden light on the higher rocks as the sun lowers in the west. By the time we return to Vincent the sky is glowing orange-red. As we leave the park the Joshua Trees reach towards clouds now golden in the setting sun.
6th October 2021, Wednesday
Campbell Hill Bakery pastries for breakfast and we are on the road to West Hills to meet up with old friends Meryl and Andy whom we haven’t seen in years. Meryl was one of my colleagues back in Wilmington. We have a wonderful time catching up, and Meryl has prepared a delightful meal, complete with a really chocolaty tart. A great evening!
7th October 2021, Thursday
To Lodi California
We’re making the drive home in 3 sections rather than 2. It’s much more relaxed this way. We have two excellent beers at the Lodi Brewery and Restaurant and healthy dinner salads along with them. But we ruin our brief health kick with chocolate ice cream laced with brownies and fudge, courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery down the street. Our hotel, Best Western in Lodi, is only 8 miles away. For some reason, our room has been upgraded to a King Suite – tucked away at the end of a quiet hall on the third floor. O exercises while I take out my fiddle. My bow has actually “rehydrated” now,so I can set it to the proper tension. My fiddling improves a bit tonight, courtesy of the improved bow.
Another early bedtime and hopefully another early start tomorrow.
8th October 2021, Friday
We drive from Lodi to Grants Pass, Oregon, stopping (of course) at the Caldera Brewery and Restaurant in Ashland, Oregon for a delicious meal of mahi mahi and two great beers: a dark lager and a dark Kolsch. We also purchase an imperial porter and a bourbon barrel aged stout to continue our Thanksgiving beer tasting tradition this November.
Tomorrow we’ll be home.