Joshua Tree

I was planning to leave Idyllwild and head to Temecula, which is wine country of Southern California and also on the way back to San Diego.  I wasn't really that excited about it because I had been there before and after just being in Napa I saw it as a way to kill time until my next Air B and B in Ocean Beach started on Wednesday.  Averi suggested that I check out Joshua Tree National Park which was only about an hour and a half away.  Being back in nature mode I thought that might be a better idea so I headed there.  I arrived to the park after stopping at Walmart for some food and supplies.  Car camping would allow for the luxuries of ice, food, fire, and tons of water.  Joshua Tree is the desert.  There is no water at most of the campgrounds and they recommend each person have about a gallon a day.  That was my first time in a big box store in over a month and there was a sign that said, "43 days until Christmas".  I was in shock!  They were even playing Christmas music. One thing about being in an area with no seasons is you lose track of time.  Here I am in 80 degree weather and you are playing Christmas music, it was strange.  I arrived to Joshua Tree right around 4:30pm.  I wanted to get to a campsite before it got too dark and to see what I thought was going to be the 'supermoon', come to find out later it was actually Monday night.  Unfortunately, the first two campsites were full so I didn't end up finding a campsite and setting up camp until about 5:30-6pm.  I was camped next to Willie and James two Navy brothers from Florida who were driving a 1979 VW van out from Florida for Willie to ship to Oahu, where he was living with his wife and kids working for the Navy as a civilian.  

I had never really heard of Joshua Tree.  Only from U2 and here and there in movies.  I guess I was expecting more of a forest feel based on the name.  I have to realize Southern California has been in a severe drought for years.  Everything is a desert, part of the mojave desert to be exact.   No forest would survive.  The Joshua tree is a yucca or palm tree.  It's rather ugly and something you would expect to see in the desert.  There are massive rock formations here.  Chris would have loved it.  Chris loved bouldering, rock climbing without ropes and harnesses.  This is a playground for that.  The best part about it is that the rocks are like grippy artificial turf you find on a track so even I can climb things I never thought possible.  There is no cell phone reception at all here.  So the first night I drove out to inform my mom I had made it safely and post my daily photo.  I hung by Willie and James' fire for the night and they invited a guy named Chris who worked in LA on lighting in movies and music videos.  

I turned in pretty early, my body needed it after that backpacking trip.  I ended up sleeping almost 12 hours on and off.  I woke up around 7am and then went back to bed until around 10am.  Willie and James left.  I decided to do the geological off-road tour and then hiked Ryan's Mountain which was a 3 mile uphill loop.  As if I didn't have enough steep mountains I thought I would do some more...😒.  It wasn't bad at all and the top gave you a nice view of all the nothingness around you plus there was cell reception up there.  After that I went to town to get more water and firewood since I decided I was going to stay until Wednesday.  I wanted to be back in time to watch the moonrise.  I got back and started heading to Skull Rock Trail which was right by camp and ran into Chris from the night before.  We decided to watch the
moonrise together.  He informed me that the supermoon was in fact Monday
night and although it was Sunday night as well it was now a full moon.  We went off the trail and climbed some pretty crazy rock formations to find ourselves pretty high up and at the perfect view for when the moon began to rise.  Unfortunately, the human eye sees this massive object due to our perception of the other objects in front of the moon and an iPhone cannot capture this like a high quality camera can.  So the photos I took look like a white dot in the sky.  I personally think Sunday night was better anyway because the sky had a lot pink and purple hues.  On Monday night 'supermoon' was so orange rising it overpowered the sky and that was all you saw.  Some fun 'supermoon' facts; the next supermoon will be in the year 2034, 50 moons can fit into planet earth, the supermoon is only 13% larger than the regular size and 40 km closer.  I think Joshua Tree had a lot of visitors due to the 'supermoon' and I didn't even know anything about it until I was already at San Jacinto so I am glad I was able to be here for it.

On Tuesday, I woke up early and decided to do the Skull Rock Trail again, this time in the daylight.  I found myself getting more and more confident, jumping from rock to rock.  Then I thought of the movie 127 hours and what if I fell and got stuck and no one could find me.  I decided I better take it easy.  I left the trail and drove to Cholla Cactus Garden.  It was basically a
huge cactus garden in the middle of nowhere, haha.  From there I went to the Hall of Horrors, which is basically an outdoor rocking climbing area.  I scaled pretty high up, bouldering various rocks.  There were a handful of people using harnesses and rope climbing.  It was pretty imitating.  I thought instead of breaking a leg I better head to the Lost Mine Trail.  The Loop was 6.2 miles.  I finished that in 2 hours and 20 mins.  The trail had some flat portions as well as some areas of incline.  The park information considered it moderately strenuous and said it would take 4-5 hours.  I left and planned to have a snack and watch the sunset at Key's view which overlooks San Jacinto Peak and the Saltin Sea.  It was very cloudy and San Jacinto was actually blocking the sun.  Not to mention it was freezing.  Also, I thought I was going to have cell reception up there but I lost it fairly quickly.  I went back to Ryan's Mountain but just climbed some of the rocks there to watch a ridiculous sunset.  I felt like Helen Hunt in Twister only instead of chasing tornados, I was chasing sunsets.  Back at camp the wind got the best of me.  I couldn't get my fire going and finally gave up.  

I woke throughout the night and Wednesday to some intense winds.  It was pretty chilly and cloudy out.  It almost looked like it was going to rain.  Then I remembered that's not possible, in Southern California it never rains.  It was the perfect time to pack up and head out that's for sure.

Joshua Tree is an interesting place but I haven't showered in DAYS and I think it's time to get back to civilization.  I miss San Diego.  It's going to busy when I get back.  Adam is having the ultra light backpacking course at his place on Wednesday night that I said I might try to make.  I have training for work on Thursday.  Then I am hoping to go to the orientation for volunteering at Mama's Kitchen.  Dana invited me over for football at their house Thursday night, so I will probably go over there.  Saturday is a different meet-up group doing a hike and then going to a local brewery in San Diego.  So I think I will check that out.  I invited some new friends I have made in San Diego to join so hopefully they come along as well.  AROO WOOOO!!! Supermoon wolf transformation heading back to civilization!!

Song of the Day

"Heart it Races" Dr. Dog.  I haven't listened to Dr. Dog is years but Spotify thought I should start again. Chris and I always used to listen to Dr. Dog.  I think it's interesting that in this song they sing about making your wife a widow. 

"Run Wild" Laney Jones.  This is from following the Happy Folks playlist on Spotify.  I like the sound of her voice and the beat of the song. 

"Brain Damage" Pink Floyd.  As the guy Chris and I were watching the moonrise high on these massive rocks a group of people in the distance were playing the Dark Side of the Moon album and howling like wolves.  I thought this song had to make the cut.  

"Wolf" Sylvan Esso.  I love Sylvan Esso and they sing ARROOO WOOOO so well in this song!