Chasing That Horizon!

A waxing gibbous moon illuminates the granite boulders surrounding our campsite. Joshua Trees cast their moon-shadows on the sand, mingling with the silhouettes of creosote bush and cholla as they flutter ever so gently in the night breeze. A coyote crosses just within range of our headlights, perhaps in pursuit of the desert hare that passed our way only moments before. We are just returning from an impromptu backroad trip on Black Eagle Mine Jeep trail. There is a plethora of old desert mines here. Most are played out and abandoned, yet there is still an active mining district east and north of the park.

We have been camped in Joshua Tree National Park for the past five days. Now, some may chuckle at the use of the word camping when in a 36ft diesel motor home, but this excursion requires planning and preparation. There are no services here, no water, no power. The weather has ranged from a sand and windstorm to sunny to rain, with daytime temperatures just hitting 60. With our granddaughters in tow, we climbed rock formations, had a treasure hunt, and visited an abandoned mining claim. And after returning them to their parents, we continued to hike, climb, and drive Jeep trails. Two more trails await us tomorrow, as we continue to explore JTNP. Pinkham Canyon Jeep trail was difficult to find, but it had some beautiful sights, sandy trails, but only a few challenging spots.

Keith has been coming here since 1978, when he was in the Navy, before this was a National Park, and there are always new sights to see.

Today we are visiting the Salton Sea, which is much larger and prettier than we expected. We will try to drive all the way around today, which should pretty well wipe us out.

We've been camped in JTNP for over ten days now. The rain came down steadily yesterday, and it got cold. But it is still beautiful, and we will stay two more days. Then, we are headed back to Menifee to visit our daughter again, park the motor home, and drive the Jeep to Las Vegas for a week, while the motor home gets some maintenance items done. After that...who knows? There is still a little more doctoring, dentisting, and visiting to do in the Bay Area, so we may just hunker down there for a while before casting our eyes east again.