Monday September 30

A good night's sleep in Palm Springs after yesterday's trip. We decided to relocate to Palm Desert for the next two nights and made a reservation at the Marriott Courtyard. The plan was to make a loop through Joshua Tree National Park by entering the West Entrance at the town of Joshua Tree, do some hikes and drive through the park and exit at the south gate at Hwy 10. Little did we know this was going to be a 160 mile trip! A lot bigger park than we thought.

Our first stop was at the West Entrance Ranger Station where we found out that one of the trails we had chosen was closed due to a washout.

We decided to start off with the 49 Palms hike, about 4 miles but a good climb up and down both ways to the destination of this little oasis. Some great views from the trail.

Temperatures were around 90F and required a lot of hydration. The oasis was interesting with a little pool of water that apparently attracts the desert critters at night.

We saw some critters during our hike. We were always surrounded by a bunch of very little and hard to photograph butterflies.

Many small lizards...

A Chuckwalla...

Some of the desert flora and fauna...

We returned to the car and drove to the Hidden Valley which had a trail that winds through a box canyon formed by massive boulders. This was a hideout for cattle rustlers' in the late 1800's.

Some interesting landscape.

From here we drove to the Barker Dam, build around 1900 to hold water for mining and cattle.

We hiked the trail to the dam and found a few interesting critters along the way.

A Gopher Snake...

Another speckled lizard...

There were rocks with hieroglyphs...

The day was wearing on and we realized we had a fairly long drive to Palm Desert. We did one detour to Keys View, elevation 5185 ft which provided a hazy view of the valley containing Palm Springs and Palm Desert. You could also sort of see the San Andreas Fault in the foreground.

From here we had to cruise through the park to get to the hotel by 6:30 pm.

Did we mention that since Paso Robles we now have a new ride???

Stopped for a cool photo of a Ocotillo Cactus.

Got checked in and had time for a trip to the whirlpool and swimming pool before supper. Still over 90F.