Wierd Trees

Trip Start Jan 04, 2008
1
126
130
Trip End Dec 17, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of United States  , California,
Monday, December 1, 2008

Now feeling refreshed after a couple of nights in the same bed we planned to head to Joshua Tree National Park - made famous by U2 as the name of their album and where they came for inspiration when they were writing it.  But first we had an auto issue to deal with - the mighty Dodge Avenger had decided that it needed an oil change and we coudn't get the irritating warning sound to stop so we headed to Palm Srings airport and the Dollar counter.  After explaining our issue and pointing out that this was the second car that had issues we were given the keys to our third motor of the road trip.  This time a Chrysler Sebring convertible which would have been brilliant apart from the fact that it wasn't warm enough to have the roof down and the boot was much smaller than the avengers and with our increased post-shopping baggage count it was all a bit of a squash.  we manged to get everything in and hit the road heading to Joshua Tree - what a weird place...
Joshua Tree NP
Joshua Tree NP
  
The park is in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert and the higher, cooler Mojave Desert.  The trees were named by the trees were named by the Mormon settlers who apparently saw the branches as reaching towards heaven.  The park is (as you would expect) full of these trees and also has many weird shaped rocky outcroppings which (they claim) make it the best place to climb in California - I'd argue with that one having seen El Capitain.  We drove around a circuit of the park stopping at the highest point we could drive to at the Ryan Mountain trailhead for lunch where it was pretty chilly.  From there we had great views over Silicon Valley.  On our circuit we also stopped at some of the weird rocky bits some of which had been named after things they resemble - like skull rock.
 
That evening we had a 135 mile drive to Barstow so that we could make it up to Death Valley the next day.  We tried to take the most direct route that was on the map but soon discovered that the tarmac ended and the Sebring wasn't built for dirt roads so had to do a u-turn and take the longer route.  Arriving in Barstow we soon found a reasonable motel that had a kitchenette so for once we could cook our own dinner - the joy !!  Nothing deep fried for a change.
Slideshow Print this entry Joshua Tree hotels