Th - Joshua Tree National Park

Parting Shekar and Sonja the night before, I started, my drive to Joshua Tree National Park but wound up pulling over into a commuter parking lot (?) after an hour and slept in the back seat again - its really not that bad - thank God for bringing ear plugs though!!! Woke up in the morning with a glow in the sky but prior to sunrise. As I drove, in the morning darkness, I had to slow down on the freeway to pass a roadblock with federal marshalls peeking in cars. I guess I didn't look like an illegal alien and my tiny Chevy Aveo couldn't easily hide anyone, and so I was waved through.

As the Sun grew brighter, I drove on, enjoying the green of southern california, and then the beginnings of the desert as I grew close to J-Tree. In the actualy town of Joshua Tree (near the park), I stopped and got water as there is none in the park. I really like the idea of paying $.30 to refill an existing gallon. Okay, its probably not real spring water, but filtered, but all the better - less impact on the environment, transporting that stuff around.

Paid my $15 to get into the park, drove 17 miles in and found the Hidden Valley campground. Along the way, I truly began to appreciate the beauty of the place. Joshua Trees abounded, much taller, and much more numerous than in the other places I've seen them. They certainly aren't unique to the park, but the park is truly filled with them. Found the campground, ignored the 'full' sign and wound up driving around the loops 3 times before seeing a woman leaving a campsite. She confirmed she was leaving - and so I had a campsite. Maybe not quite so secluded as some of the others, but were you to see the campground (and you eventually will once I get some photos), you'll see how nice it is. 'The Pit' in Bishop this is not. And while the Pit is surrounded by mountains (you can see them over the mounds of dirt, heh), here you have towering piles of rock right around you.

Spent some time walking around the boulders and then sat in my car in the heat of the day listening to an audio book. Audio books are certainly making the driving way way easier on this trip. Time travels so much quicker while driving. Speaking of which, "The Time Traveler's Wife" is certainly one of the better produced audio books I've listened too. Unfortunately, as I was to learn the next day, the last quarter of the book won't play! Guess I'll need to wait until I get back to NJ to listen to the rest - or read the rest should I actually have to check the book out of the library. Just as I was getting ready to start bouldering in the later cooler afternoon, it started to rain. JT certainly needs rain as it got a whopping .6 inches in 2006. I wound up missing out on any wildflowers because of this thought the Joshua Trees were blooming and very pretty. I have a couple cool photos of clouds coming in over the mountains as the evening begins to grow dark.