Day 13 - Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree was a let down at first but it came alive when the sun went down. I arrived at 10am and scurried around to find a campsite. Most campgrounds are first come first serve at national parks so arriving early allows for an easier securing of campsites-- I found a nice one at Big Rocks. I setup my uncles tent (struggling at first in the howling wind) in order to mark my spot and set out for a climb up Ryan Mountain.

Joshua Tree is known for their famous Joshua trees and slabs of rock. This first hike was in a section of the park short on these two items. The second hike was much better-- a 6 mile round trip to the Lost Horse Gold Mine set deep in the mountain hills. Pic 1.

The sun was starting to go down so I thought I would drive around and look for a good spot to watch the show. I found a large slab of rocks overlooking a field of Joshua Trees with the mountains in the background and a range of rocky peaks to the north and climbed up. Pic 2

Just kidding. I'm a very good climber and Joshua Tree rocks are sticky-- they aren't flat but pointy. And my shoes are very rubbery. The sun was slowly setting as I was scrambling around the rocks maybe fifty feet up.

Sunset at Joshua Tree is a almost spiritual experience. Whereby during the day the trees and rocks and hills blend together to a dullish ground color, at night the trees became dark pillars tilting in reflection, the rocks light up a haunting white-grey and the moutains keep the sunset for hours. Tonight was a full moon so I decided to go for a night hike before heading to camp. I have a light that attaches to the brim of my hat making night hiking safe. I rounded a rock corner and heard th faint beat of drums and Indian chants in the distance-- towards the fading horizon line. I contemplated walking over but the sound was too far off and I wasn't prepared to get lost and camp outside tonight, so turned back and headed to big rocks camp for the night. See pics 3-5 below.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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