Joshua Tree 2002

Detail
Friday Dec 6th—Day 1
The original plan was to leave Friday night at 6:00pm. The directions I obtained from Mapquest went through L.A., and after discussing this fact with Tim, we decided to wait until 7:30pm. I arrived at Tim's new habitat a little late—he had just recently moved and I was unfamiliar with the area.

While loading Tim's gear, two people were walking by. The light of a passing car showed me that I knew one person, Lisa S.—a colleague and client. We chatted for a moment or two, then Tim and I were off.

We didn't get to the preserve until way late. We set up the tent in a convenient campsite—number 3—then got to sleep around 2:30am. The Midhills campsite was nearly empty; I think there was only two other sites occupied while we were there.

Saturday Dec 7th—Day 2
Early morning, a ranger came through blasting talk radio. This seemed too rude an awakening to be real. Eventually we woke up and considered breakfast.

Tim brought one-minute oatmeal and a jar of crystallized honey. One-minute oatmeal isn't really instant oatmeal, but works in a pinch.

There is an official trail from Midhills to Hole-in-the-wall that is eight miles one way; we decided against this trek and instead hiked around the immediate area. We saw a plethora of juniper trees, cacti, cool rocks, and granite boulders. Tim and climbed a few minor peaks, then headed towards a rounded granite pile that looked interesting. The rounded pile was excellent for rock climbing!

Rock climbing consisted of hopping, scrambling, and quite a bit of detective work. Eventually we reached a point where we did not feel safe continuing—it was getting late, anyway—so we turned back. Even the normally alert Ortega seemed confused by this.

There was a place where we needed to duck under and through some rather large granite boulders where I lost my lens cap for my camera. Tim passed me his flashlight, and I was finally able to find and retrieve it.

Sunday Dec 8th—Day 3
Our plan was to go to Hole-in-the-wall information center before heading to Mitchell Caverns. Fortunately, we were sidetracked by a roadside pile of granite rocks. Like the previous day's climb, the top was out of reach, but we had fun.

A nice ranger named Ruby was caretaker of the information center. After a nice chat, Tim and I toured the trail through Hole-In-the-Wall. The place is aptly named.

Our tour of Mitchell Caverns started later than scheduled due to a troop of boy scouts going through the previous tour. The tour guide was Paul Petitt— he packed a rod. The cavern tour was cool; there were lots of interesting formations. Our tour also ended later than anticipated.

It was nearly dark when we reached Kelso Dunes; this did not daunt us. We didn't get to the very top, but pretty close. It was dark when we headed back to the car, and I hadn't taken a GPS point of the car's location, so we got lost. Using the National Geographic map I bought, we programmed a waypoint and were finally able to find our way.

Monday Dec 9th—Day 4
Tim had been talking about getting a sunrise photo the day before, so shortly before the scheduled time, I ran to a peak to get a picture. Twenty minutes before the sunrise was better than the actual sunrise. Since I was on a peak, I called my mother. She said that Dad sold his digital camera to my brother in order to buy a new one.

Tim and I drove to the cinder cones. It was a few miles hike through lava rock to reach the closest cinder cone. We climbed one of the cones. It was fairly steep requiring both hands and feet. Once we reached the top we found the trail that would have made it much easier—oh well. According to some literature I read, these cinder cones were some 18.5 million years old. In that amount of time, an entire side of this cone had eroded away leaving it in a sort of "C" formation. My cell phone worked well at the top, so I made a few calls.

We went to Baker for gasoline and to find white gas—which we didn't find. I don't think Tim thought much of Baker.

We camped out at a roadside spot across the street from the trailhead for Cima Dome. There was a fire pit, so we built a fire.

Tuesday Dec 10th—Day 5
The morning was really cold! It is hard to believe how cold the desert can get. I had heard Coyotes in the night. Tim perched himself on the Granite next to a metal cross for a morning sunrise picture.

Tim and I hiked to Cima Dome which is not extremely interesting from a visual standpoint. The hike was through a grove of Joshua Trees, and the day was pleasant, so it wasn't a wash. We even got to do some rock climbing.

Heading towards home, we drove down Zyzzx road and stopped at Soda Lake. The lake is mostly dry and salty. There is an old retreat there with a fountain and coots and such&mash;it seems to be a research facility now. There is a National Parks station there also, but it isn't much. There is a restroom and an arched pavilion, but it seems as though they ran out of funding and never finished it.

See some images of the trip.