Heading to California!
July 7, 2010. Today we are back on the road again having spent a couple of weeks regrouping from our most excellent June Treks. Also, Terry had to work a couple of trips (US Airways) while I remain gleefully unemployed. (I love it that she's the current "bread winner"!)
We depart Hell (Phoenix, AZ) at 6 am on our way to the next leg of the Summer Trek thru the National Parks. Where are we headed? California Parks! We have been "playing it by ear" for many of our journeys without a real set agenda. So, paint your wagon and head west you ol' farts!
Original plan - head all the way up to Redwood National Park in the northwestern most part of CA. Then east to Lassen Volcanic. Down to Yosemite (my favorite place on earth). A quick Lopes family get-together on July 17th. Then up to Sequoia/Kings Canyon before heading back to Hell.
This trip is a bit different than our first insomuch as we now have CharlieDog in tow! C-dog is a very good traveling companion...however, his presence will limit what we can do as the National Parks are NOT a dog-friendly places!
Last December...on our return trip from Terry's folks house in Porterville, CA, we visited National Park #4 - Joshua Tree. The guidebook touts Joshua Tree as "a haven for all those who are drawn to the stark desert landscape with its tranquil solitude that provides respite from our hectic contemporary lifestyle." Whoever wrote this crap does not live in Phoenix!
Our original visit was pretty much a "drive-by" as we literally began at the west entrance...drove thru the Park looking at what there is to see (not a whole helluva lot) and exited at the eastern end. Our entire "Park Experience" took us all of about an hour and a half.
In all fairness to Joshua Tree (and feeling a bit guilty that this "drive-by" really didn't constitute a "Park Visit"), we decided that since we were going to be traveling right by Joshua Tree on our way to the California Parks...we'd give this one another chance to impress us.
This time, we entered the Park from the southeast at the Cottonwood Visitor's Center where we picked up a map of the Park and purchase a booklet about the area. Eager to see what we missed out on in December...we headed out to explore the wonders of Joshua Tree. Forty-five minutes later...we still had yet to see anything impressive! From the southeast entrance...the first thing of note is the Cholla Garden. More on that later.
December 2009
This was the sole picture taken of Joshua Tree when we visited it in December 2009. Yes...there are Joshua Trees there. A bunch of funny looking rocks....and a Cholla Garden!
Cholla's have been called "Teddy Bear" cacti because...at a distance...a great distance, they appear to be quite cuddly. In reality, these are evil prickly cacti that hurt like hell if you come into contact with one of them. Parts of these Teddy Bears that have fallen off the main trunk have been known to literally jump out and attach their stickery selves to your ankles or calves. Their other nickname - Jumping Cholla's! I've had the misfortune of having come into close contact with these jumpers on two occasions.
Once these Teddy Bears attack you...getting the Jumper off becomes a real challenge! If you look closely...there are stickers ALL over these bastards! And when they attach themselves to you...it's not with a single sticker...you'll have a dozen of them entering your skin at many different angles. And where do you grab the son-of-a-bitch to pull it off of you? Unless you want it permanently attached to your hand...you had better be carrying pliers or tongs or some mighty large tweezers. Needless to say...I kept my distance when photographing the Cholla Cactus Garden!
Ahhh. Give the Bear a hug!
These things are really not trees. They are over sized Yuccas....a member of the lily family. However, they are the "main event" at this Park. OK... for all of you Joshua TreeHuggers...my apologies in advance. I do not see the beauty in a Joshua Tree. To me...they appear to be a mature Chollas...and I hate those buggars!
The Joshua Tree got its name from Mormon settlers who saw the tree's branches spreading upward in many directions as a reminder of the biblical Joshua who beckoned them to the Promised land. OK. I believe these Mormon's may have been eating Paiute bush on their journey thru the desert!
Other early explorers were not so impressed. I favor John C. Fremont's assessment of these "trees": Fremont claimed the Joshua Tree to be "...stiff and ungraceful...the most repulsive tree in the vegetation kingdom."
We have seen 13 National Parks thus far. To date...Joshua Tree ranks #13. I have a feeling this Park will continue to sink in the ranking report!
Rock formations
OK...you've got your Cholla's and your Joshua's. What else is there here in this Park? The Park Ranger suggested we drive up to Key's View, the highest spot in the Park where we could get a glimpse of the Salton Sea. Have you ever seen the Salton Sea? If not, let me describe it to you. Imagine a hot, dusty...nasty desert. In the middle of this foul place sits a large body of saline water. No vegetation around it. Not much in the way of civilization. Just a barren land with a salty body of water taking up space. The booklet we purchased at the Cottonwood Visitor's Center warned us that from this vantage point, the view can "be obscured by smog blown in from Los Angeles". Nice! Our eyes were already burning from the nasty air so we passed on Key's View on this smoggy day where the Sea was probably not visible from any vantage point!
The guidebook boasts of the Park's unusual rock formations. Groovy! We've just been to Zion. We've been to Bryce. We visited the incredible cliffs at Black Canyon and hiked on the Waterpocket Fold. We've seen Half Dome and El Cap and the amazing geologic formations at Arches. Those are real rock formations. I suppose if one were to hike the Park, there would turn up some "rock formations" of interest. Unfortunately, we chose not to spend any more time here and alas...like our first visit...we departed Joshua Tree with the same impression...a "drive-by" is all that is necessary at this Park!
I suppose the beauty of any Park remains in the eye of the beholder. Well, this "beholder" found only three items of semi-interest here at Joshua Tree - the Cholla Garden...the Joshua's and the boulders. Outside of that...not much to report! We stopped briefly so C-Dog could pee on these godawful trees...and then off to our next Park!
Next up...we've decided to alter our original plan and head up to Sequoia instead of Redwood. Happy Trails my friends.
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