World United States California Joshua Tree National Park

_____________Wanderlust_____________ American West

Joshua Tree National Park Dec 6, 2008

It was supposed to be a long drive from Flagstaff, AZ to the Joshua Tree National Park. Google maps told us it would take around 6 hours. We coasted along the highway, and then for a brief stretch along a state highway. At a point where Google maps suggested us to take a left, we saw a mud road. We tried to travel on it, but within 100 mts we realized that the car would break down very soon if we continued. We turned back to the state highway, parked the car on the shoulder, and studied the Atlas (Yak fiddled with his Blackberry). The best route seemed to be a stretch of the once glorious Route 66. And we took it.

We drove miles after miles, and could see nothing. It was dark outside, and the towns which were supposed to exist alongside Route 66 never showed up. Towns which once flourished along the "Main Street of America" that connected Chicago to Los Angeles, were now abandoned or sparsely populated - they had all turned into ghost towns. We drove on along the extremely undulating road in pitch black darkness with no source of light other than the vehicle headlights. We chased, what seemed like mirages (of towns), to get food to eat, but found nothing. Hour after hour, the road never seemed to end, and both of us were thoroughly frustrated. The ordeal continued till we finally hit the highway. A big sigh of relief, and we turned into the the nearest town. We checked into a motel, ate Chinese food, and crashed.

Early next morning, the breakfast options at the motel were disappointing at best (they had advertised complimentary breakfast). Avoiding raw bananas and unpalatable transparent orange juice, we started our drive to our destination, Joshua Tree National Park. We did not notice any change in the landscape and it was desert throughout. As we entered the park, we passed the Cottonwood Mountains and stopped at the visitor center to pick up a map. We make a quick stop at the Cottonwood Spring campground and had toast with jam. After getting some food into our stomachs, we hit the road, for the last day our adventure.

Our first stop was the Ocotillo Patch, home of very rugged looking desert plant, whose stems shot out of the ground like a fountain. From here, we headed to the Cholla Cactus Garden. Off the Pinto Basin Road, this was an area full of Cholla Cacti which sometimes grew higher than humans. We walked along a trail through the cacti, treading extra carefully since once wrong step could would need a trip to the hospital. This was the first time I was seeing any cacti in such abundance. We drove on, and soon had our sighting of Joshua trees. Not very tall, 3-4 branched with a bunch of thorny leaves on the end, they were very beautiful. We walked away from the road amidst Joshua trees, admiring nature. These trees would a common sight for the rest of our time in the park.

We drove to Keys View, which was the dead end of the road. One of the high places in the park, this offers spectacular views. Standing on the shoulder of Little San Bernardino Mountains we had a great view of the Coachella valley. On the valley floor, to our right was Palm Springs and on the left was Indio. In the horizon stood Mount San Jacinto. Apparently on smog free days, one can see well into Mexico from here. We retraced our path from the Keys View, and soon came across lots of rock formations. As we walked though these, we saw many rock climbing enthusiasts. This seemed like a nice location for technical rock climbing. Excited by all the rock climbing around us, we too scrambled on the boulders for a bit.

As the day wore on, we drove out of the park and came back in though the Canyon road entrance to the trail head of Fortynine Palms Oasis trail. The trail took us through hills devoid of any greenery. The only wildlife we could see was lizards and beetles. We hiked though the desert for a couple of hours and reached the Fortynine Palms Oasis. All through the trip, I have been quite amazed by the Oases. Its like you are in the middle on the driest region you've ever seen and suddenly boom - there is water and shade. We hung around the oasis for a while, chilling in the shade and a small stream trickled past us. I still am surprised how water showed up in such a location. We were about to leave when I felt a prick on my palm. It might have been a thorn (which were all over the place in the desert), but I believe it was some bug. Lucky me it was not a scorpion .. hahah. This pinch stayed with me till the end of the day.

It was well into the afternoon, and it was time to wrap up the last leg of our trip. We got out of the park, filled gas in a town, where people had Joshua trees in their gardens. It was a totally different life out here. With this thought, we hit the pedal and drove off into the desert, away from the desert.