Joshua Tree National Park
This weekend I went to Joshua Tree National Park with Scott, Brad, my Dad, Tom, and Matt. We drove in separately since we were all coming from work. From San Diego, it took me about 3.5 hours to get our campsite in Sheeps Pass.
My Dad, Tom, and Matt showed up about 10 minutes after me, great timing. It was a tad cold, but the wind was a killer. The ground was too hard for my stakes so I settled for lame tactics like using my ice chest in one corner to keep the thing settled down. We stayed up too late, huddled by the fire ring, wishing it was warmer. Of course, we were the guests, mother nature didn't really need to take us into account.
I got up at 5:15 AM to head to the Cholla Gardens. I was successful in getting Scott up but Brad wouldn't wake up. It turned out to be his loss too. The sunrise was stunning. There was heavy cloud cover, but it was clear across the horizon allowing the clouds to light up in a deep red. You just don't see much of it in Southern California. Jeremy showed up at the turnoff around 6:20 or so, so he missed a little of it. All of us got some great pictures which is the name of the game when you get up so early. The consequence though of having so many clouds was that we didn't get to see the Cholla Gardens "light up" but there is always next time!
We left and headed back to the camp site. My dad had breakfast going and it hit the spot. Jeremy had his own itinerary so he headed out. The rest of us took two cars and went to Barker Dam. We were just about the first people there and lo and behold, Tom spotted three Bighorn Sheep. This was the third park I've seen them (also Zion NP and Anza-Borrego Desert SP). It is always a great sight to see.
I stood on the dam and took pictures from afar. I don't have an SLR like my Dad, Scott, or Matt so they definitely got better photos than me. My zoom is only 3.5 while they were using 300 and 400mm lenses. My dad got on the other side of the lake and stalked him. He went around a huge boulder and they spotted him though and headed up the rock face to the top. They are certainly nimble creatures.
The lake itself was low like it was last month, but the Bighorn made it worth the trip. I didn't take too much pictures around the loop since I did a lot of that last month.
From there, we drove to the Lost Horse Mine trailhead. We heard good things about the mine and it didn't seem like a big hike. Wrong. It was pretty steep and I got a shin splint in my right leg (they pick the worst times to show up). I made it just fine, but had to take it easy. The mine was in pretty nice condition but they've put up a big fence around it. I was able to put the lens of my Nikon through the chain links and get my pictures though. The wood structure looked like it was in good condition and the 10 stamp probably wasn't much different than it was in the 1890s, except for a lot of rust. We encountered a lot of people coming down that didn't look like they were going to make it to the top. Funny.
After that, we headed to Keys View. Sucked. Too much smog, haze, and clouds. It was nothing compared to what I saw on Christmas Eve. We left after 2 minutes.
From that point, the older crew (my Dad, Tom, Matt) were itching to get some spirited drinks into their system while I wanted to spend every daylight hour seeing as much as I could. Scott, Brad, and I headed out. Brad took the Desert Queen Mine road but made the wrong turnoff and we headed into Park Blvd. He decided to head out to Pine City but we talked him out of it. Scott was nearly comatose at this point...I think we was tired from the week and waking up early. We headed out to Split Rock which was nice, but we were there at the wrong time of day. The Split faces East so when you are taking pictures of it, you are shooting directly into the setting sun. We will have to do it at Sunrise next time.
We still had an hour or so of daylight so we needed something else to do. Brad and Scott had never been to Arch Rock at White Tanks so we headed over there. It is the most famous arch in Joshua Tree. Luckily there was just a European couple to deal with, and then we had the arch to ourselves. I finally got the guts to climb on top of the arch to get a picture though I was having trouble hanging with it while Scott was taking his time with his camera!!! Brad, as usual, was laughing at me.
Scott picked a vantage point behind the arch in the rock to shoot for sunset. I followed him up there and did my own point-and-shoots. The sunset was okay, not as much cloud cover but we got a couple cool ones or us "touching" the moon with good light on us. Now if Scott could just get those raw formats converted....ha.
We headed back to Sheeps Pass and my Dad dutifully had dinner almost done. I was starving too...the guy should have his own cooking show. Left to my own devices, I think dinner would have been beef jerky and gatorade. The fire was very welcome and it seemed colder, more on that later. The older crew was just a bit more awake and rowdy then the younger group. Scott was the first one to sleep, and I followed him by about an hour. I was out by 8 PM. Brad followed a little bit later.
I woke up sometime in the night and looked at my phone to see what time it was so I would know how long I had before I had to get up (5:15 again). Except...my battery was dead. Damn it! I slowly got up and went to my car to plug it into the charger. I didn't start my car (and the heater) because I didn't want to wake anybody up, this despite the fact that everybody was snoring so loud it could have drowned out the Southern Pacific! So here I was, at 2 AM, pathetically charging my phone battery so my alarm will work, shaking violently from the bitter chill. What a scene. I'll tell you this, those last 3 hours in my sleeping bag were heaven. My new bag is great and I was completely comfortable, camping at its best.
We got up about 5:30 and this time, Brad woke up. Scott was wide awake, and I guess so since he got like 12 hours sleep or something. We headed back out to Keys View. My goal was to get good light on San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Peaks which would be a couple of my favorite pictures. That didn't quite work out, not this morning, but once again the sunrise was outstanding. Good cloud cover and deep reds and purples. It was my first time at Keys View for sunrise, I've done it during the day and sunset before.
From there, we headed back to camp and packed up. There was a thick layer of frost/ice caked on my car. We had been out for 2 hours and it had warmed up to 31 degrees. Tom said it was 27 when he woke up. No wonder why I was so cold!!!!!
Which brings me to a real test. Next week, Scott, Jeremy, and I head out to Yosemite National Park. The highs will be in the low 30s with lows in single digits. If they're off by a little bit, we could be looking at below zero temperatures. It is going to be a very cold trip. However, if I really am going to be doing so much hiking,camping, and photography in the future, I have to test myself and the elements. It is going to be quite an experience for us, and I plan to write plenty about the trip. Wish us luck though.
Overall, this was an excellent Joshua Tree trip. It is great to drive so many miles through the park and realize that not only have I been to most of the places, I've been to many multiple times at different times of day. That is when you really get to feel at home in such a place. I can't wait to find myself back soon.
My Dad, Tom, and Matt showed up about 10 minutes after me, great timing. It was a tad cold, but the wind was a killer. The ground was too hard for my stakes so I settled for lame tactics like using my ice chest in one corner to keep the thing settled down. We stayed up too late, huddled by the fire ring, wishing it was warmer. Of course, we were the guests, mother nature didn't really need to take us into account.
I got up at 5:15 AM to head to the Cholla Gardens. I was successful in getting Scott up but Brad wouldn't wake up. It turned out to be his loss too. The sunrise was stunning. There was heavy cloud cover, but it was clear across the horizon allowing the clouds to light up in a deep red. You just don't see much of it in Southern California. Jeremy showed up at the turnoff around 6:20 or so, so he missed a little of it. All of us got some great pictures which is the name of the game when you get up so early. The consequence though of having so many clouds was that we didn't get to see the Cholla Gardens "light up" but there is always next time!
We left and headed back to the camp site. My dad had breakfast going and it hit the spot. Jeremy had his own itinerary so he headed out. The rest of us took two cars and went to Barker Dam. We were just about the first people there and lo and behold, Tom spotted three Bighorn Sheep. This was the third park I've seen them (also Zion NP and Anza-Borrego Desert SP). It is always a great sight to see.
I stood on the dam and took pictures from afar. I don't have an SLR like my Dad, Scott, or Matt so they definitely got better photos than me. My zoom is only 3.5 while they were using 300 and 400mm lenses. My dad got on the other side of the lake and stalked him. He went around a huge boulder and they spotted him though and headed up the rock face to the top. They are certainly nimble creatures.
The lake itself was low like it was last month, but the Bighorn made it worth the trip. I didn't take too much pictures around the loop since I did a lot of that last month.
From there, we drove to the Lost Horse Mine trailhead. We heard good things about the mine and it didn't seem like a big hike. Wrong. It was pretty steep and I got a shin splint in my right leg (they pick the worst times to show up). I made it just fine, but had to take it easy. The mine was in pretty nice condition but they've put up a big fence around it. I was able to put the lens of my Nikon through the chain links and get my pictures though. The wood structure looked like it was in good condition and the 10 stamp probably wasn't much different than it was in the 1890s, except for a lot of rust. We encountered a lot of people coming down that didn't look like they were going to make it to the top. Funny.
After that, we headed to Keys View. Sucked. Too much smog, haze, and clouds. It was nothing compared to what I saw on Christmas Eve. We left after 2 minutes.
From that point, the older crew (my Dad, Tom, Matt) were itching to get some spirited drinks into their system while I wanted to spend every daylight hour seeing as much as I could. Scott, Brad, and I headed out. Brad took the Desert Queen Mine road but made the wrong turnoff and we headed into Park Blvd. He decided to head out to Pine City but we talked him out of it. Scott was nearly comatose at this point...I think we was tired from the week and waking up early. We headed out to Split Rock which was nice, but we were there at the wrong time of day. The Split faces East so when you are taking pictures of it, you are shooting directly into the setting sun. We will have to do it at Sunrise next time.
We still had an hour or so of daylight so we needed something else to do. Brad and Scott had never been to Arch Rock at White Tanks so we headed over there. It is the most famous arch in Joshua Tree. Luckily there was just a European couple to deal with, and then we had the arch to ourselves. I finally got the guts to climb on top of the arch to get a picture though I was having trouble hanging with it while Scott was taking his time with his camera!!! Brad, as usual, was laughing at me.
Scott picked a vantage point behind the arch in the rock to shoot for sunset. I followed him up there and did my own point-and-shoots. The sunset was okay, not as much cloud cover but we got a couple cool ones or us "touching" the moon with good light on us. Now if Scott could just get those raw formats converted....ha.
We headed back to Sheeps Pass and my Dad dutifully had dinner almost done. I was starving too...the guy should have his own cooking show. Left to my own devices, I think dinner would have been beef jerky and gatorade. The fire was very welcome and it seemed colder, more on that later. The older crew was just a bit more awake and rowdy then the younger group. Scott was the first one to sleep, and I followed him by about an hour. I was out by 8 PM. Brad followed a little bit later.
I woke up sometime in the night and looked at my phone to see what time it was so I would know how long I had before I had to get up (5:15 again). Except...my battery was dead. Damn it! I slowly got up and went to my car to plug it into the charger. I didn't start my car (and the heater) because I didn't want to wake anybody up, this despite the fact that everybody was snoring so loud it could have drowned out the Southern Pacific! So here I was, at 2 AM, pathetically charging my phone battery so my alarm will work, shaking violently from the bitter chill. What a scene. I'll tell you this, those last 3 hours in my sleeping bag were heaven. My new bag is great and I was completely comfortable, camping at its best.
We got up about 5:30 and this time, Brad woke up. Scott was wide awake, and I guess so since he got like 12 hours sleep or something. We headed back out to Keys View. My goal was to get good light on San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Peaks which would be a couple of my favorite pictures. That didn't quite work out, not this morning, but once again the sunrise was outstanding. Good cloud cover and deep reds and purples. It was my first time at Keys View for sunrise, I've done it during the day and sunset before.
From there, we headed back to camp and packed up. There was a thick layer of frost/ice caked on my car. We had been out for 2 hours and it had warmed up to 31 degrees. Tom said it was 27 when he woke up. No wonder why I was so cold!!!!!
Which brings me to a real test. Next week, Scott, Jeremy, and I head out to Yosemite National Park. The highs will be in the low 30s with lows in single digits. If they're off by a little bit, we could be looking at below zero temperatures. It is going to be a very cold trip. However, if I really am going to be doing so much hiking,camping, and photography in the future, I have to test myself and the elements. It is going to be quite an experience for us, and I plan to write plenty about the trip. Wish us luck though.
Overall, this was an excellent Joshua Tree trip. It is great to drive so many miles through the park and realize that not only have I been to most of the places, I've been to many multiple times at different times of day. That is when you really get to feel at home in such a place. I can't wait to find myself back soon.
Labels: Joshua Tree
posted by T.M. Schultze at
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