Desert hiking Backpacking trip in Josha Tree National park with Kelly and Jean | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| At the home of Keith and Chris. I meant to get more pictures, because it was an absolutely gorgeous midcentury modern home, beautifully decorated, but this is all I got! | With Keith at the trailhead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| All the horses were spooked by my sun umbrella, and I had to put it down |   The Joshua Trees took on the most amazing shapes. |   In a lot of places it was very sandy...tough walking! | Our first lunch. For lunches, I had Ritz crackers, sausage sticks, peanut butter, and some prunes. Kelly had all kinds of homemade crackers and and home-dried fruit. |   We got off track once on this part of the trail, and went about a mile out of our way. Luckily many places that could have been confusing had this kind of marker to make it easier. | We saw these holes, all in a row, every often. Don't know what made them, though. |   A dead Joshua Tree. It looks like solid wood, but is surprisingly spongy. | What little shade their was, came from the Joshua trees. I'm wearing my diy craft foam visor sunhat in this picture. |   Joshua tree blossums | Lots of beautiful cactuses - I think this was the Mojave Mound cactus. |   There were little black lizards scampering across the trail every few minutes, but we only saw this lizard a few times - the Southern Desert Horned Lizard |   Our first campsite. Kelly and I didn't bring our rain covers, since we'd be warm enough, and wanted to see the stars. |   Dinnertime | Happy birthday Jean! |   A selfie in the tent | The next morning, we went through the most scenic portion of the hike (which also involved a lot of straight sandy stretches) |     I think this was Lomatium Mohavense - Mojave Desert Parsley | Kelly got a little worried she was getting too much sun! |     Some wildflowers from along the trail. |   Day 1 blisters - no surprise, they got worse! |   A baby king snake. When larger, they hunt rattlesnakes. | Remnants of an old mine along the trail |   This rock looked a lot like a butt! | And this one - an alien head |   Someone made the outline of of a lizard in a wash | Day 2 campsite |   Kelly and Jean, making dinner | Hat hair! |   Beautiful sunrise the next morning |   Desert Mallow | A lot of areas looked very park-like |     Hitching a ride back to the visitor center | Boots that I've never gotten blisters from didn't do so well for me on this hike... |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||