Wednesday 1st March – Joshua Tree National Park

We both had a good night’s sleep in the car park.  Once the doors are locked, the shutters are down and it’s quiet it really doesn’t matter where we are!  We were moving in good time, stopping in at the tackle shop to see if we owed them any money. Despite the fact that we didn’t use any of their water, electric or much space, the tight people still charged us $15!  It was a good thing Simon had gone in to have that conversation, I would’ve had a word or two about that!

It was about 2.5 hours’ drive to the South entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.  Trying to prevent a repeat of the Arches NP when we were driving around fearing running out of gas we thought we’d be sensible so topped up with $25 of gas (even though we didn’t want to spend any more money this financial week!).  But it still wasn’t enough, mostly because the gas in California is $2.70 and upwards!  As we rolled up to the visitor’s centre in the park we were already just under quarter of a tank again.  None of the campsites here have electric hook-ups so we wouldn’t be able to dry-camp for a second night here without generator power.  Joshua Tree NP is about 40 miles to drive across.  We decided to enjoy driving through the park for the day as we had plenty of fuel to traverse the park and make it out of the North-West exit.  We would then have to find another gas station if we wanted to camp for free again.

The main road into Joshua Tree NP from the south - so, where are the Joshua trees?!

Cholla cactus

The landscape in Joshua Tree Park is exceptional due to how dramatically it changes within no distance at all.  This is mostly due to the meeting of two deserts – the Colorado and Mojave Deserts.  Entering through the South entrance as we did, you are told straight away that there are no Joshua trees in this area of the park because it is too dry for them.  But as you drive along the quite barren, flat land with mountains in the background, the landscape suddenly changes and fields of cacti start appearing, like these Cholla Cacti (right) or these Ocotillo (below).

Ocotillo (like seaweed, but on land!)

Harvey in a field of Cholla cacti

Then, before long there were strange formations of rocks, like skull rock (right) or grumpy man wearing flat-cap (my name for it!) (below) and the Joshua trees themselves started appearing.

Finally.... a Joshua Tree!

Did you know? - U2's album cover photograph for their Joshua Tree album was not taken in Joshua Tree NP.... disappointing.




We went for a wander along a trail to get some views and a leg-stretch before heading up to Keys View for panoramic views of the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs and Mount San Jacinto, but it was blowing a gale on the exposed viewing platform there so we didn’t stick around for long! 

The Coachella valley

The area leading up to the view had the most Joshua trees we had seen all day (below).  It was a shame that we couldn’t stay in the Park for the night but, as we would have had to use our generator there anyway, it really was no different to just go and find a spot for free.

Harvey the RV in the Mojave in front of an Agave (tree)

Or leaving if you're driving away from this sign....

We left well before sunset, the North-West exit taking us into the town of Joshua Tree where we took our gas levels to over the quarter mark. The generator in the RV has a very sensible cut-off point so it will not run if there is less than a quarter tank of petrol left to avoid using the generator for hours but then finding that you’ve run out of fuel to drive anywhere. It’s just annoying when you don’t want to buy very expensive gas at the end of the week but you have to! 

I had a navigational nightmare after we filled up and got us lost on unmade sand roads!  I hope Harvey is OK, we will have to check the tyres and the undercarriage in the morning.  In the pitch black we finally found a spot in middle of nowhere for the night, hoping that no one has a problem with where we are parked!

We are now about 3 hours from where we need to pick up Becky on Friday morning so all is looking good.  Tidying up the RV inside and out and shopping tomorrow in preparation for our first official guest!