In each of the six years we have spent the winter in Palm Springs, we’ve always made sure to make at least one visit per year to Joshua Tree National Park. The west entrance to the park is only about a 30 minute drive from the Sands RV Resort so it makes for an easy morning or afternoon outing. Yesterday, we left for Joshua Tree NP a little after noon.
A lone Joshua Tree in the desert
Leaving Desert Hot Springs it was 95F and promising to get a bit hotter as the day wore on. Even with the A/C going full blast in our 5’er it still wasn’t enough to completely beat the heat. That’s one of the reasons we thought we’d head for higher grounds up into the hills and mountains of the Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree.
How does that rock remain in place with all the local earthquakes?
As we drove into Yucca Valley the temperature was still 95F which surprised me a bit. We drove on to the entrance gate to Joshua Tree, paid our $15 fee, and started the long, gradual drive up the mountain grade. The higher we climbed, the cooler it got until finally the temperature bottomed out at a nice cool 78F! What a great feeling to climb out of the truck and feel what seemed to be “cool air” – only 78F!
“o.k., we made it up this sheer rock face, now what?”
Since dogs are only allowed around 150ft along any of the trails that lead through the desert and up into the hills, we had to forego that and just visit many of the special attractions dotted along the main road running through the park. That’s fun too as there’s lots of parking and we’re always able to take Molly and Rylie for a walk amongst the big boulders and paths near the main attraction sites.
Care to guess what this rock is called – take a close look!
The huge boulder in the above photo is called Skull Rock! It’s no wonder as the shape of the skull with the large, vacant eye sockets and the prominent nose make this rock an easy one to identify.
Looking out between the rocks at a forest of Joshua Trees
After touring Joshua Tree for a few hours it was time to head back down to the Sands RV Resort. As we left the park and started the drive down to the desert floor it was fun to watch the temperature gauge rise in sync with our descent. By the time we drove into our RV Park it was exactly 95F – right back where we started from!
That black speck on top of this rock is a climber!
We have some tentative plans for Saturday that should be fun but we’ll see if it still sounds like fun come Saturday morning!
Have a great Saturday, and thanks again for visiting!
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