Yeah! JTNP and they are blooming. Very happy momma.
We got to the area a little later than expected so spent 1st night in 29 Palms RV Park. On the morning of March 8th we made our attempt to snag a campsite at the 1st come campgrounds. With a rig out sized our choices were extreamly limited. We got to the park entrance and noted their sign of available campsites as of 9am at each area. Jumbo Rocks (our best chance) had 28 available. Ugh, didn’t make me feel to confident as it was now close to 11am however we were seeing some RVs leaving. I hoped they were all from Jumbo Rocks. Took about a half hour for us to drive there and start the loop. We were very excited to see at least 4 spots we could fit in and 2 were quite fantastic. We parked in #87 and also snagged #90 for Brooke and Bonnie who would be joining us later that day. Our site was spacious with plenary of room for their tent but our camper and truck barely fit in the spot. There was absolutely no room for another car nor was there overflow parking. Within a few hours of our arrival the campground was full.
Spent the afternoon climbing on the rocks behind our site while we waiting for Brooke and Bonnie to arrive.
The next few days were spend exploring during the morning and into the early afternoon, then hiding out by the camper as the temperature rose and the sun got intense. We hiked some dirt roads because they are dog friendly. Geology road and the following day a mine road south of our campground in the other desert (sonora). This we called the death march. The other desert was lower elevation and much hotter. Not too pleasant but the kiddo fell asleep so we were somewhat committed.
We also checked out the Octillo plants, Cholla Garden and Skull rock before Brooke and Bonnie had to leave.
We still had a few days left and explored the rock climbers at Hidden Valley, drove the entire Geology Tour Rd, caught a sunset at Keys View and continued to climb and scramble the rocks around the campsite (Benat’s favorite).
Met an interesting fellow, “Sean Jon,” the day Brooke and Bonnie left. He rode into the site next door on a dual sport bike with Oregon plates. Of course we start talking. He started his adventure in Seattle and has to be in Austin, TX in a month or so. He’s working on writing a couple of books and on this adventure with no solid end plan. He’s also spent a large amount of time living in Bellingham. Between the motorcycle and WA there were some good conversations. Before he rode off the following day we shared some pancakes with him which landed us a cameo in his blog (roddatrials.com).
We left Joshua Tree by driving to the south of the park. Wish we had done it previously, the flowers in bloom were amazing! Because of the warmer temps we hadn’t gone farther than our death march. And now towing the camper didn’t leave many options to pull over so onward we drove, to Arizona!
Clark Family Adventures 