It's Not a Mid-Life Crisis: Day 12 - Joshua Tree: Love at first sight

Miles hiked = 4.25 mi

Elevation = 3000ft

While packing up the car, I meet a very interesting couple. Angela and Sheldon, from Medecino CA, are finishing their morning wake-and-bake while lounging on the tailgate of their VW bus. We talk about hiking in Joshua Tree (or J Tree, as I’m learning). Turns out they don’t hike, they “mostly sit and commune with the earth”. Of course. After saying our good-byes, I head into Twentynine Palms because suddenly, a breakfast burrito would be totally awesome.

I stop by the Oasis Visitor Center at the eastern entrance to the park. I am delighted to say that this is one of the best visitor’s centers yet… even better than the one at Arches. It starts with an informative garden of plants out front, and continues on with some excellent displays inside, mostly dealing with the geology of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, and also with the people who inhabited this area. Out back is a 0.5 mile loop around the Oasis of Mara, a small spring. It is wonderful - lots of informative displays, and many of the plants are marked. I now know creosote, mesquite, fan palm, senna, cheatgrass, beavertail cactus, and have seen Gambel's quail, a ladderback woodpecker, Scott's oriole and a few antelope ground squirrels. I also learn that the Joshua Tree isn't really a tree... it's a species of yucca.

Cactus Garden outside the Visitor's Center

The Oasis of Mara

In the Oasis

Hello, Desert Iguana!

Back inside, I speak with Ranger Dave about some hiking options in the park. After explaining my desire for some solitude, he recommends Split Rock Loop. "It's not even on the maps... so there is no one back there." Perfect. I am impressed before I even make it into the park.

Well, let me just tell you how wonderful this park is. There are numerous informative displays as you drive along, with a sign warning you in advance that one is coming up so you don't have to slam on the brakes. The roads are nice and well marked. In fact, everything is well marked (it's the little things that count). I am thrilled before I even start the hike.

And solitude is what I get. I have Split Rock Loop (2.5 mi) completely to myself. There is not a soul on the trail... and it is super cool. It is completely silent, except for the rustling of the mesquite, the call of birds, and the tiny scatterings of lizards on the path ahead of me. The landscape looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Beavertail cactus in bloom

Hello, little lizard!

Cholla cactus in front, yucca in rear

Joshua Tree - they only branch once they have bloomed

It was a fabulous hike. Happy, I head to the Cholla Cactus Gardens. There are many signs telling you to not touch (which of course, makes you WANT to touch them). They are otherwise known as Jumping Cactus, due to their unfortunate tendency to imbed in your skin at the slightest touch, and breaking off at the joint. Which makes you carry a cactus around with you, which would probably make you less attractive to the opposite sex. "I'm sorry, but you have a little something on your face." "It's okay, just a bit of cholla. How about a kiss?" The Cholla Garden also has lots of interpretive signs and a nifty little brochure, telling you about the various plants.

Uno (una?) Cholla

Many, many Cholla

Desert Senna in bloom. Most of the year it appears to be dead.

Doubly happy, I head to Hidden Valley for the 1 mi loop. It's one of the most popular hikes in the park, but even on a Saturday, it's uncrowded. Most people come to J Tree for rock climbing, leaving the trails almost deserted.

There is a tiny yellow dot in the center... a climber.

Hidden Valley

Yay!

Finally, I decide to head over to Indian Cove Campground to set up camp and relax for a bit. Well, the wonderfulness continues, because it appears that I have reserved the best tent-site EVER! It's huge, tucked away from the road. There is a large clearing with a firepit and picnic table, and a small clearing in the shade of the rocks where I can pitch my tent. From my picnic table I can look down at the lights of Twentynine Palms and the distant Marine Base. It has been a perfect day.