Joshua Tree South BLM
We spent five days boondocking on BLM land just outside the south entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. The park is fairly large and most of the interesting stuff, like the Joshua Trees themselves, is located at the north end of the park a good 45 minutes to an hour drive away. Camping for free this close to a national park makes the drive into the attractions a non-issue. When we arrived and looked for a spot to setup we drove along the dirt road heading west for about a mile and did not find an appropriate location. Turning the rig around to head back out was a bit challenging and a little nerve wracking. As we got close to the main road we noticed an area that looked pretty decent so we got ourselves setup there and were ready for our first solo boondocking experience.
On our first full day here we drove through the park and checked out some of the main attractions. The first on on our route was the huge grove of Cholla cactus. We have seen these cactus plants throughout the desert but never this densely populated. Seeing them in the early morning light was amazing. Our next major stop was at Skull Rock, where one of the large boulders had eroded to look like a large skull. This is a major tourist attraction and several groups were there checking it out as well. A short hiking trail started here so we decided to take that hike in and around the rocky formations. The boulder here are quite large but when observed up close they have a very different makeup than the boulder we are used to seeing in the Adirondacks or on the coast of Maine. They are essentially tightly compacted gravel and erode into coarse sand over time. As such, they are very rough to the touch.
Out next hike was around Hidden Valley. This valley is surrounded by the large outcroppings of the same rock that formed Skull Rock. The valley was used by cattle and horse thieves in the 1800’s. They would herd the cattle or horses into this secluded valley and then rebrand them. We were not able to figure out how they got the cattle into the valley as there was no obvious easy access. A popular activity in the park, and in the Hidden Valley, in particular, is rock climbing. We saw several groups of people climbing the various rock walls of the valley while on our hike.
One way to meet new people while traveling the country in an RV is through a facebook-like application known as RVillage. We joined RVillage before leaving Rochester and we check in at each of our stops. While you are checked i to a location, RVillage will inform you if someone else checks in to that location. We noticed another RVillage checkin to the BLM area we were staying in so we welcomed them to the neighborhood. As a result we now have new friends, Tina and John. We spent Monday and Wednesday evenings sharing wine around a campfire at their rig. Like us ,they have recently started full time RVing and look forward to seeing the country. We are sure our paths will cross again in the future and RVillage will help us stay in touch as we go our separate ways.
We ventured into the park one more time to hike the Ryan Mountain trail that is supposed to be one of the most popular hikes in the park. This was a 1.4 mile hike with a 1,o00 feet of elevation change over that distance. The views at the top were fantastic and the hike was not too difficult. The parking lot at another trail head we were interested in was full so we returned to the RV for an afternoon of relaxation. Dan did some more maintenance around the RV, sealing more trim to make sure the rig is as water tight as possible. Amy took the time to do some work on a sewing project.
One big bonus to being here at this time is that the desert is in full bloom here. Like Maine in the fall where you can get a daily foliage report, here in desert country, you get a desert bloom report for the various areas. The south end of Joshua Tree National Park is currently at peak and Dan got tons of pictures of the beautiful flowers. We were lucky to be here at this time and we are told this is a good year for the flowers given the rain we have suffered through in the past month or so.
More images of desert flowers below.
A Desert Blue Bell! That bloom is new since we were there.