A Return to Joshua Tree National Park

I posted about Joshua Tree back in June, regarding my March visit.  I loved visiting the park, but was uncomfortable taking more than short walks on my own.  It's pretty remote and unforgiving after all.

On this trip (November), Steve is with me and so we took a few short hikes together.  I didn't take many pictures with my phone thought, as I had taken more back in March.  Most of the pics are on my good camera--and I will have to post those after returning home and accessing the PC rather than my iPad.

All that being said, here are a few notes on the visit.

We were up early and at Cottonwood Springs by 7:30 pm.  The first ones in the parking lot, and I took a moment to eat my fruit and yogurt before joining Steve on the trail.

Unfortunately, most of the springs were blocked off and it was a bit of bust for birding for Steve.  After a stop at the Visitor Center to buy an annual national park pass, we headed on to Barker's Dam for a short hike to Barker's Dam and back.

The Dam is manmade, but unfortunately low in water once we got there.  It was a beautiful hike out though, with gorgeous rock formations and all sorts of desert flora.  A few birds made themselves known, but not many.  We also took a slight tour to see some pictographs.  Apparently I took no pictures on my phone!

Next we stopped at Hidden Valley for a picnic lunch and some scrub jays that thought my sandwich looked tasty.

We backtracked a bit from there and went up to Keys View for the, well, view.  And  wow, what a view. The pic below looks out towards Palm Springs, and you can see the San Andreas Fault (well, not in the photo).  Itwas unbelievably windy!

Looking to the south, the whole Coachella Valley is laid out before you, and you can see to the Salton Sea and just beyond to mountains that are on the border to Mexico.  The drive up to Keys View I think is one of the most beautiful ones in terms of driving through the Joshua Tree forest.

We went back to Hidden Valley for a short hike on that trail (about an hour).  The story goes that this rock-rimmed valley was perfect for corralling rustled cattle and horses.  You can also watch rock climbers.

From here were drove to the West Entrance/Exit to the park, and this is where you see the most of the Joshua Trees.

We decided to then drive to the North entrance and re-entered the park there just to see a little different part of the park.  I wanted to take another short walk at White Tank background but missed the turn so we stopped at the Cholla Gardens instead for a much shorter walk.  The picture doesn't do justice to how you feel once you are deep in the garden.  Possibly because I am short, I really felt as if I was in a small forest of the Chollas.