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 51 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 3

A deep connection to the nature surrounding you comes from the solitude of solo travel, but sometimes it is nice to have a companion! I ran into David, a retired telecom exec from Canada a few days ago on the Syncline Loop trail at Canyonlands Island in the Sky. Then I ran into him again halfway through my Chesler Park hike two days ago, then again later in the hike, finishing the last two miles together. David hiked his favorite trail, the Peekaboo trail yesterday, and said I could join him, but my heart was set on confluence trail, so we hiked separately. We did share a campsite though and exchanged travel stories. David was 55 and had retired at 50 from a high-level international job with Nortel and was now traveling full-time. We instantly bonded over our solo travel style. He outclassed me by leagues. He had trekked one month in Nepal, then another month in India, then some months in Asia. He had hiked and skied and adventured all over the western U.S. and Canada....

Day 40 Escalante Hole-in-the-Rock Road

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Days 89 and 90 - Waterton

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