Joshua Tree National Park

With a three day weekend we headed south to Joshua Tree National Park.  On the way there we stopped at the Desert Tortoise Nature Preserve.  We had seen signs for it on our move to California and had wanted to make sure we went there at some point.  Well we hiked most of the trails and no tortoises were in sight.  But it was a great walk enjoying some desert flowers. 

Onward to Joshua Tree.  We spent two nights camping at Black Rock Campground.  It was beautiful with so many Joshua trees everywhere and they were in full bloom.

On our first day we did a hike through Hidden Valley.  It is told that the valley was an old hideout for rustlers when they stole cattle in the area.  There are only a few narrow ways to get into the valley.  It was a great walk all around the rocks and Joshua trees.

                                      Zane was ready to watch for wildlife

                              We found a large Chuckwalla lizard sunning on the rocks

                             Not sure how many cattle could be sustained in a very dry valley...

Early in the evening we headed out of our campground to go hike to the top of a hill nearby.  It was about 3 miles round trip and Zane did great climbing all the way to the top.  We had a great view of the town of Yucca Valley from the top.

                            Zane has the "top of the world" hiker pose down pretty good

                            Zane and Casey are pointing to the top of the hill we conquered

The next day we hiked to the 49 palms oasis.  It was quite the up and down hike through the hills to a little valley that had some small pools of water and giant palm trees all around. 

                                              Getting closer to the oasis

                                           Checking out the small pools

On our way back we came across another hiker on the trail;

                                             A desert tortoise!!!

We finally got to see one.  He was just making his way down the trail.  It was fun watching him go down the rock stairs, more of a slide.

A few places in the park people in the past have built dams into the rocks to create ponds or watering holes for the cattle.  Only one in the park still functions and that is Barker Dam, when full the pond covers 20 acres. 

                                             Barker Pond

Here's another one we found when we took a 4x4 trail.

Zane had lots of fun climbing on rocks, playing in the dirt and hiking on the trails.  He is getting to be a great hiker. 

On our second night, just before heading to bed the wind picked up.  And it blew all night long!!!  The family next to us loaded up there kids around 2:30am and we imagine they headed to a hotel.  Casey and I hardly slept all night long and Zane was awake at 5:00am asking if the wind was going to blow us away.  It sure felt like it.  So we had breakfast in town at 6am!!  The park had high wind warnings for the day so we started home in the morning instead of doing more hikes.


For our trip home, I was exploring the nearby areas to find a place for a good mid-day break.  And we came across the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve.  There are some amazing super blooms happening around southern California and this happened to be one.  It was amazing, the pictures don't do the color justice. 

 
Miles and miles of poppies and other wildflowers.  We did a 2 mile hike through the fields and were just amazed by all the color and the strong winds, it made the poppies look like waves of orange water. 

Overall it was a great weekend of camping, hiking and exploring another National Park.