Joshua Tree NP and Mojave Desert for Spring Break
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:43 pm
My kids and I took off from San Jose for a Spring Break tour of the California Deserts the Tuesday before last, arriving at the Black Rock Canyon Camp Ground in Joshua Tree National Park in almost exactly 8 hours.
Next day bright and early we headed off-road exploring into the old Dale Mining District in BLM territory to the NE of JT.
As you can see from that last shot, the wild flowers were blooming with profusion, an amazing sight in the desert.
We continued down the Gold Crown Mine road from the Dale area into the SE portion of JT, and this quick video clip is of the most interesting bit of 4-wheeling (or rather, 3 wheeling
).
Also along that winding mountain path we found at least 10 of these huge lizards hanging out in the rocks, can anybody ID these brutes?
Down in the JT valley the kids explored a Teddy-bear Cholla Cactus Garden while I aired the tires back up.
The next day, Thursday now, we went for a hike around the Black Rock Canyon area...
And then to the dry lake bed of Dale Lake (or almost dry)...
Friday we packed up camp and headed North through the Mojave Desert, as an unplanned fluke briefly drove on historic Route 66, and stopping for lunch at the huge Kelso Dunes.
Then off-road again winding our way up a cinder cone, well testing out the Pathfinder's ABLS system scrabbling our way up as far as we could make it on the trail before hiking the rest of the way to the top.
And lastly in the lava fields near the cinder cones we explored some lava tubes...
We ended our northward journey in Pahrump NV, getting a good night's rest before meeting up with other forum members for a group tour through Death Valley National Park.
Next day bright and early we headed off-road exploring into the old Dale Mining District in BLM territory to the NE of JT.
As you can see from that last shot, the wild flowers were blooming with profusion, an amazing sight in the desert.
We continued down the Gold Crown Mine road from the Dale area into the SE portion of JT, and this quick video clip is of the most interesting bit of 4-wheeling (or rather, 3 wheeling
).Also along that winding mountain path we found at least 10 of these huge lizards hanging out in the rocks, can anybody ID these brutes?
Down in the JT valley the kids explored a Teddy-bear Cholla Cactus Garden while I aired the tires back up.
The next day, Thursday now, we went for a hike around the Black Rock Canyon area...
And then to the dry lake bed of Dale Lake (or almost dry)...
Friday we packed up camp and headed North through the Mojave Desert, as an unplanned fluke briefly drove on historic Route 66, and stopping for lunch at the huge Kelso Dunes.
Then off-road again winding our way up a cinder cone, well testing out the Pathfinder's ABLS system scrabbling our way up as far as we could make it on the trail before hiking the rest of the way to the top.
And lastly in the lava fields near the cinder cones we explored some lava tubes...
We ended our northward journey in Pahrump NV, getting a good night's rest before meeting up with other forum members for a group tour through Death Valley National Park.
