Monday, January 18, 2010

January 17, 2010

Joshua Tree NP

We got to Yucca Valley yesterday about noon.  After setting up the carbus we drove to the Joshua Tree NP visitors center to make reservations for a tour of Keys Ranch.  It is pretty popular and we were in luck and got reservations for the first tour today.  After that we drove in to the park to get a feel for the layout and distances involved.  We took the Geology Tour Road informative loop.  Nineteen miles of back country four-wheeling.  Fun and pretty desert views.  The sun goes down early in January and it gets cold.  We left the park by a different route to Twentynine Palms and then back to Yucca Valley to the carbus.

Left at 9:00 am this morning to get to the tour at 9:45 as instructed.  On our way to the entrance station we were passed by a fire truck.  Saw no sign of a fire.  As we headed in to the meeting spot for the tour there was a ranger car across the road.  There was a small fire ahead and no one could go through.  Come back for afternoon tour.  OK.  We headed off to sight see and do some geocaching.  There is a road that goes up to the highest point in the park and looks south over the Coachilla Valley.  Palm Springs, Indio, Salton Sea, and much more including the southern end of the San Andreas Fault.  The air was pretty clear so we could see almost to the Mexican border.

We headed back to the central part of the park to a trail that had four geocaches along it. 

As this is a National Park, all the caches are virtual. 

We found all the spots and gained some knowledge and then hustled back to the entry point for the tour.  After passing through a gate which was locked behind us we followed the ranger’s car about a mile to the ranch.  Very interesting tour and education about how the Keys family lived on the spot for sixty years with very little money but a lot of adaptability, ingenuity, and hard work.  True pioneers.

Finished the tour as the sun headed behind clouds of approaching ‘storm’.  No sun = cold so back to carbus to get ready to travel tomorrow.



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