Joshua Tree

January 3rd we decided to go on to Joshua Tree NP.  Thanks to the Peel's, we knew to dump the tanks and fill up with water first, because the only southern campground was closed (so no water and dump station available), due to flooding in September (3 inches of rain in 3 hours; moved large cement tables around, damaged most of the campground there and Kent's favorite hiking trail, along with 1/2 mile of road.)  FYI: All camping inside JT is paid dry camping.  And only three of the campgrounds have water fill and a dump station.  For more info on JT, see our Favorite Places link.

We ended up at one of our favorite BLM sites just out JT's southern entrance.  A little less than a mile off the interstate, it's scenic and quiet, but still has a phone signal - an important issue to a worrying mom (plus Kent's dad was in the hospital, so it was needed.)  It's a nice, free place to park, but since most of the hiking is in the northern part of the park, we decided to check out a bit of BLM land between Twenty-nine Palms and Joshua Tree entrances up north.  We stayed one night but wouldn't go back - felt safe, but it wasn't too close to the park, and very rough to get into. 

Our campsite at Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree

Moon rise between the rocks

So we ended up staying in JT - and it was great.  In 2010, with the 5th wheel, we were "too big" for any available sites, so we just drove back and forth through the park to the southern BLM land.  This time, we had room to park (Jumbo Rocks campground) with our short RV, and it was easy to take the scooter around to wherever we wanted to hike.  (Kent did ride out each day to check for messages.)  We visited Keys Ranch (a paid tour), Barker Dam, Lost Horse Mine, Desert Queen Mine, Keys View, Hidden Valley, Skull Rock, Wall Street Mill, Ryan Ranch and some other sites and trails not in their literature.  The first weekend a high school classmate of Kent's came with his wife for a daytrip, and we got to introduce them to one of their California masterpieces.  It was good to meet you, Bob and Karen!

Buffalo Rock inside Hidden Valley - Joshua Tree

The main house at Keys Ranch - Joshua Tree

Stamping Mill at Lost Horse Mine - Joshua Tree

Keys View - Joshua Tree
The dark horizontal line is the San Andreas Fault

We knew our batteries needed replaced, but had hoped to get a couple more weeks out of them until we got back to Quartzsite.  But that was not to be ... so we've moved back out to southern BLM land, where we could run our generator as needed (limited hours in JT.)  It cut our hiking short, but we're getting the bathroom painted!  Plus we're back to phone and internet, and that's a good thing. 

A beautiful blue desert bird.  The were about two
dozen flitting from bush to bush.

Skull Rock - Joshua Tree
I wonder why they call it that

As before, our time at Joshua Tree was too short, too many trails left to explore or revisit, so we will just have to come back again!          - Dana