Joshua Tree - hearing the coyotes howl
I didn’t have high hopes for Joshua Tree (spoiler alert - they were far surpassed!) I’d read that the Joshua Trees themselves were struggling to survive there and Amy wasn’t all that psyched on it from a previous visit. We pulled up exhausted at Joshua Tree Taco Bell and decided an early dinner and watching an old Disney movie (Aladdin) in Big Buddy was the perfect evening. We quickly found a spot on some BLM land and enjoyed a really cozy and relaxing time winding down with a film. It’s funny how much of a treat using that much electricity feels like these days - we used to pretty much always watch something while we ate dinner (on the days it was too cold to sit and eat on our front steps). As an aside - in the US it’s very common to sit out on your “stoop” and watch the world go by. We did it a lot in our old flat in Finsbury Park and got to know our neighbours along the street in a way I’ve never managed to before. Anywhere we live in future, I’d definitely look for a place where we could sit in the front.
Taco Bell fiesta wrap and a film in the dessert - what a dream. These wraps are $2 and, if you get lucky with who’s making it, it’s packed with guacamole, rice, beans, veg and cheese
Anyway - we woke up the next morning to a wind warning along with freezing temperatures and driving rain. It really feels like there’s no let up to the cold weather! I keep telling myself that spring is coming and soon I’ll be longing to be chilly again. The campsite we’d reserved for that night in the park was a long drive round windy roads with no mobile phone signal and, from the flooding and gusting winds on the highway we were worried about making the drive. We could see that another national park campsite had plenty of spaces available so we drove to the ranger station there to ask about changing sites. The ranger wanted to help us out but weirdly the retail manager (I think) kept butting in and challenging our story, telling the ranger that there was nothing they could do. We went back out to the car to consider our options and were just calling the company that runs the campsites when the ranger came running out to our car and called Amy back in to explain, in front of this now sullen and silent woman, that we were right it wasn’t all that safe to drive on that road, especially when there were sites available here and that as long as he could see our reservation for the other campsite we were good to swap. I really don’t understand people like that - jumping in on a topic she presumably has no training in (she wasn’t a ranger) just to try and make people’s lives more difficult.
Black Rock campground in our “emergency” campsite!
Once we were settled though this campsite was such a gem. We went on a gorgeous hike (bar a short hail storm) right from the car, made a quick dinner before the wind and rain returned and settled in for another cozy night. When I took the window covers down the next morning we were amazed to be greeted by a blanket of unforecast snow! Especially given how warm we’d been all night. I felt for the people struggling with tents that morning as the snow continued to flurry around us.
A gorgeous first hike in Joshua Tree
A dusting of snow - amazingly we were very warm and cozy all night
Wednesday was a bit of a write off but the next morning we were up bright and early to try and snag a site in the first come first serve campsite, Hidden Valley. There are 44 sites and you really have to get lucky to bag one. Just as we were looking around a guy came out of his tent and told us the site next to him was free as his friend had rolled in late and set up in the wrong spot so it wasn’t actually occupied. Once you’ve staked your claim you have to go back to the entrance station to pay. Even before 8am it was already turning into a bit of a zoo so Amy left me to make sure no one took our spot while she went to pay. The atmosphere was nice though and everyone wanted to help as many people get sorted as possible. We were briefly set to share our site with a young couple and their toddler until they realised their friends had saved them a spot as long as they could park their truck in our second assigned parking space. Like I said - a bit of a zoo. But once Amy returned with the magic ticket saying we had the site we could relax, have some breakfast and get on with our planned hike for the day which was a loop to an old abandoned mine.
Hidden Valley campground - site 7
On this hike I found a hat - real trail treasure, I love it! Sorry to the person who lost it but at least it isn’t just sat lost in the desert
The next morning we were up pretty early to check out the blooming ocotillos and the cactus garden. These cacti, called teddy bear chollas, are very cute looking and I was keen to sit down next to one - something I definitely wouldn’t do now having seen how spiky they can be! The ocotillos are amazing too, the name means “little torch” in Spanish and after rain they get gorgeous red flame flowers on their ends which humming birds love. To me they look like they belong under the sea, they’re unlike most other plants I’ve seen!
Living dangerously in the teddy bear cholla garden
Ocotillo “little flame” reaching tall
After that we met up with Lindsey to hike the Boy Scout Trail. It’s one of the most popular hikes in the park (which like Death Valley doesn’t have a lot of marked trails). With 15 assigned backcountry camping spots along the path it’s the perfect introduction to backpacking and I can’t wait to take my niece and nephew there! It’s an out and back hike and we ended up covering around 7 miles. My highlights were a really blue lizard and a huge jack rabbit (called a desert hare in England I think) that had been looking at a quail so didn’t hear us coming and ended up jumping out of a bush in a panic just a couple of feet from Amy - I’m not sure who was more terrified, her or the hare.
Hiking the Boy Scout Trail
We were also walking back to the car as the golden hour before sunset came and the light felt like we were underwater in a sandy tropical sea.
I’m still not over how biodiverse the desert can be - I’d thought it was all just sand dunes
There were birds flying all around, the beautiful black and white shrike and an as yet unidentified blue bird and, as usual, the desert was smelling amazing - particularly the creosote bushes with a clean, almost saffron-y scent to them and the lemon/pine junipers. It was slow progress to the car with so much to smell, look at and listen to.
We both love birdwatching - nerd alert!
The next day we hiked Ryan Mountain which is meant to be a good place to spot bighorn sheep. Unfortunately - lots of people had their dogs on the trail despite the numerous signs saying it’s not allowed. Dogs smell just like wolves to the sheep so they’ll avoid the area for a whole season if they get a whiff which means no one gets to see them. I did end up talking to one of the rangers who walked up the trail to meet a couple of the dog walkers but, despite the threat of fines, it doesn’t seem like they’ll do much beyond telling people they should really take the dogs elsewhere. I wish I, and fellow hikers, could be more vocal in telling people not to bring their dogs out but it feels like it’ll be such a fight. We did talk to one older couple with their little dog but they weren’t at all receptive. As an ER nurse, Amy learnt that if you can get someone to say they won’t do something again - they probably won’t. And this couple were dead silent when she asked if they’d keep taking their dog out in the National Park.
Ryan Mountain peak
That afternoon we chilled out at the campsite and tried out our battery powered shower which worked amazingly well for a quick hair wash. The black bag didn’t heat the water up like it promised to but it could have been the cold wind and below freezing night time temps holding it back so it doesn’t feel fair to judge yet. Boiling a bit of water on our stove though meant that we had fairly warm water - Tash and Amy’s desert salon is open for business!
You can see Big Buddy in this photo overlooking the campground!
We also went in search of phone signal, trying to climb onto the top of some rocks where we’d seen people making calls. We couldn’t get up there but we did find a really cool little slot canyon right off the campsite and had a great time scrambling around it.
These two giant boulders were solidly wedged in the top of the slot
That night after an amazing dinner of charcoal grilled chicken and peppers with fried potatoes and sprouts we slept in our tent for our last night in the park. I got a really early night but was woken up at around 1am by a coyote howling. It sounded like a single one announcing its presence in the area and was the spooky classic coyote sound - such a treat. Earlier in the trip we’d seen three big coyotes crossing the road and had a bit of a staring competition with them from the car so I wondered if this was one of them. I went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later to the sound of a great horned owl hooting right next to our tent - it was a great night for listening to desert sounds!
Our last Joshua Tree meal - followed by pudding of chocolate stuffed bbq bananas and ice cream
As it was Sunday, we drove to a town called Indio just south of Joshua Tree so that we’d have reliable internet and electricity for the work week. It feels like we’re really starting to get into a routine with this, helped by the warmer weather. We’d loved Joshua Tree though and hadn’t really seen the southern end of the park so we decided to head back on Tuesday afternoon for a sunset hike where our friend had seen a desert tortoise and a big lizard called a chuckwalla.
Gorgeous Joshua Tree wildflowers
The wildflowers were absolutely incredible - the variety of colours and shapes mostly made up for the lack of wildlife sightings (beyond the ubiquitous pups out for an illicit hike). We walked out to an oasis overlook and made our dinner there as the sun was setting and the turkey vultures beginning to circle over the palms.
Sunset hiking
Walking back we were both hoping and not hoping to hear the coyotes howl again and as it got dark and the stars started to come out, I’ll admit to being a bit creeped out. I’m not sure what by really because we didn’t see or hear anything besides bats and frogs - everything is just spooky in the dark. That night we parked on some public land just outside Joshua Tree - there was so much space out there and it’s genuinely a great option if you can’t get a campsite inside the park itself.
Testing out night mode on Amy’s phone to take pictures of the stars
Set up on Joshua Tree public land - shortly after this the cloud came down and the wind picked up so we weren’t getting much power!
Amy was extra psyched for our next stop - Anza Borrego - a state park that she had visited ten years ago and couldn’t wait to get back to.
