Desert Wanderings

Phoenix and Joshua Tree (62 degrees, chilly, windy)

Barker Dam

"In the empty of the desert,

water is king

and shadow is queen"

Mehmet Murat ildan

Joshua Tree

We find ourselves in the desert, surrounded by Joshua Trees, cactus, fan palm trees, and endless sand. Joshua Tree National Park is immense and although we have visited twice it feels like we have only touched the surface. Some areas have HUGE boulders piled high upon each other. While other parts are very desolate. Occasionally the desert is interrupted with a fan palm oasis  It's beautiful and very interesting to explore and you could get very lost here. 

Cholia Cactus

Joshua Tree

We spent two days hiking. One hike, 49 Palms, was very challenging for me. My tracker said I'd gone up 49 flights of stairs. We did climb up and down a lot but it's probably not accurate. It ends at a pretty oasis of fan palms where wildlife find something to drink. 

Relaxing at the oasis

 There is a 500 foot elevation gain and the sweeping views of the park below was amazing.

Our favorite hike was the Barker Dam. It was very pretty and looped past this pretty lake.

On the third day we drove across the park. 

Beautiful Fan Palm Trees

Cooper's Hawk

We stopped for a short visit at the Patton Museum. This is where Patton trained his troops in the desert (200,000 at at time) during WWII.  It was an interesting stop. The museum is dated but has some interesting exhibits. 

Patton and Willy

This time we stayed at Joshua Tree Lake RV Park and Campground. The sites are water and electric and on sand.  Note to self - close windows when leaving. A brisk wind suddenly came up and we came home to lots of sand everywhere inside of the RV. Good grief!  Last time we stayed at one of the National Park Campgrounds, but it was difficult to find even a slightly level site. 

Pam, John, Me, and Kathy

Prior to coming to Joshua Tree we stopped at Lake Pleasant Regional Park outside of Phoenix. John's cousin Kathy and her friend Pam had rented a house in Sun Valley. We had a great reunion and shared lots of stories and laughs. The campground is very nice situated in the high desert. Our site was without hookups and had a lovely view of the lake. There are guided hikes and kayak trips offered by the park but we didn't have time to participate.  Our main complaint was the entrance was only staffed with one person.  So each time you came back to the park you had to wait in very long lines to enter. 

Lake Pleasant

Our lake view

What a cool Jeep

One day we attended an air show at Luke Air Force Base. The Blue Angles along with many others performed. It was awesome!  John loved going around and looking at all the planes and the air show was so much fun. 

F-15 Eagle

Blue Angles (F-18 Hornets)

We will now be traveling along the California coast. We have not explored California very much and are really looking forward to it. Stay tuned and happy trails!