Joshua Tree ‘n Anza

There was no Rattle and Hum as we approached Joshua Tree, oh ok, maybe a few glasses…. All of a sudden Joshua’s, which are primarily only found in this part of world, were everywhere. Within the northern part of Joshua Tree National Park we hiked from a park up spot up among the tree’s to look out over the valley. Lots of Joshua Tree’s with their limbs reaching up to the sky (they were named after the biblical Joshua, guiding travellers on their way) We’d be seeing a lot over the coming days in the park and some fab sunsets. After that morning exertion we thought we’d check out the town itself.

We didn’t expect to find a Crochet Museum in Joshua Tree but we did. We also found a museum to the art of hairdressing, full of all kinds of memorabilia. Initially wondering why women did that to themselves, we realise it’s far worse today, what women do to their faces and hair! A fun part of town, lots of artisans and the kind of vibe they create, if not the produce we’d want! 😉

Being the hippy place that it is, the desert area around Joshua Tree town itself is full of fun and quirky outdoor art, some by ‘artists’ like at Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum, but the best is by creative homeowners who re purpose desert junk. (Deserts are a fly tippers oasis) Out on the bikes in the area we saw some really fun stuff. I particularly liked the outdoor home office! We also realised that aliens had actually landed and of course, needed their own portaloo.

After a day biking the outskirts, we went back, into a different part of Joshua Tree NP where we were surrounded by lithe, fit young things, otherwise known as climbers (of the rocks that is, versus social) It’s a world class area for climbers and it was fascinating to watch them at play. I now know what ‘holding on by my pinky’ means! Not knowing the first thing about it, we could however see the attraction as there’s so much variety. Much of the rock forms look like dried out mounds of pastry, I hope the photos show that. Basically lots of cracks in a variety of directions and otherwise smooth surfaces. Hidden Valley Trail had lots of fit people attached to steep rocks. The valley floor was, in its day (1870’s) an area for cattle rustlers to hide and re brand their illicit herds. After that, Cap Rock Nature Trail before doing our own little rock climb for sunset.

As you’ll know by now its all about the light, so a 6am rendition of ‘get out of your lazy bed’ as the wake up alarm tune forced us up and away. The sunrise light was, to be fair, stunning and with no one around on the trails, we just had birds for company. It was so quiet we could hear their wings in flight. The hike was called Hall of Horrors, not sure why, as it wasn’t. Who couldn’t adore the blue of a Mountain Bluebird, stunning! The desert is really colourful in reality, far from the David Attenborough Sahara Sand one that comes to mind with the word desert.

After a desert breakfast we headed to Jumbo Rocks and Skull Rock Trail then Arch Rock Trail and The Heart Rock. It’s a difficult landscape to describe, vast swathes of flat valley floors, carpeted by cacti and Yucca, and the odd Ocotillo, with mounds of rock rising up in spaced out intervals. Juniper tree’s berries, turning white, are scattered everywhere on trails. Rock forms are unusual, vast cracks in smooth boulders the size of a house, waiting to one day, tumble down and change the landscape again. We are noting that all the National parks are really different, yeah probably the point, but we continue to be seeing new landscapes all the time.

Our last stop was The Cholla Garden, seems counterintuitive as Cholla are evil cacti. Not wishing to sound mean, we (and others actually) did want the posing Japanese tourist, in completely the wrong attire for the desert, to step back onto one. The amount of spins and posing, she should have lost her balance at some point. I just wanted to write ‘PLEASE’ above the sign 🙂 Aside, the Cholla Garden is quite spectacular and we do have to wonder how such a unique, dense area of them happened. I wish they were more ugly to go along with their spikes! They make fun faces though!

Next stop Palm Springs and some time with Mike and Doug, of ‘Scary Movie Night Kaslo’ fame. We were really looking forward to seeing them again and our stay there didn’t disappoint one bit. We chatted a lot, ate and drank and had plenty of evening hot tub conversations under the stars. Day time, we watched hummingbirds flit around the back yard (garden to you and I) with the tall one getting some brilliant pictures. A road runner, wandered along the wall too, lazy thing! The view from their yard across the San Jacinto mountains was gorgeous, the different colours at different times of day were stunning. We did a tiny bit of exercise, hiking up to a small water fall at Tahquitz Canyon, and views back over the flat Palm Springs, but mainly hung about. We did manage to get a much needed hair cut and wandered the bohemian stalls at the Palm Springs Thursday night market with fab street food. Not many pictures but the best of times!

Starting to move inland more we headed to Anza Borrego State Park, the biggest in California, 640K acres. Getting there involved more desert with small enclaves of RV’ers parked up with their toy haulers and OHV’s, ready to carve up the scenery. (OHV is Off Highway Vehicle, dune buggy to me!) If we’d have stopped it’d be “Y’all not from ’round here” kind of reception, we mused. This must be the new recreational drug of choice? Anza is vast (I keep saying that about places here) a jagged peaked mountainous desert peppered with cacti, shrubs and numerous Palm Tree Oases, within in which there tended to be a gated community, hotel and golf course. On Google Earth it’s green blobs on acres of beige, and we wonder why there’s a challenge for water… A boulder climb kind of hike took us to Palm Canyon Oasis which was small but beautifully formed, a real oasis of calm in the high desert at the top of a canyon. A fire in the canyon in Jan 2020 resulted in the palms loosing their skirts but the area, blocked off from tourists is recovering well.

Sky Art Sculptures are dotted around the park, rusting and aging nicely, they are scattered around and have become a great draw. Dennis Avery (of stickers and labels fame) lived in the area (actually he probably had a lot of houses and didn’t stick to one) and commissioned Ricardo Breceda to create over 131 which are at 28 different locations. Dennis made all the land available to the public via a trust when he died. The sculptures are fabulous, real artistry and detail in them and they reflect fossil treasures found in the area and history and nature in a whimsical fashion. Hard to pick but some faves below. It took a lot of cycled miles to track as many down as we could, most people drove up to them in their 4WD’s, took a pic out of the window and left! 🙂 Another artist had painted the iconic ‘Road Runner’ where red paint had been spilled on the road, so clever!

JIGSAW’s Blog Spot: I’ve been having a fine time of it. I recovered from my spell at vet hospital and forgave the man in the white coat for putting things up my bottom. I know his heart was in the right place and he’ll still be able to manage with one finger in a bandage for a while 😉 We’ve been in lots of dry places called deserts and though not sweet, it’s been great for me as I can roll around and be a chameleon all the time. I have a chuckle when I jump on the furnishings afterwards. Having said that, they have decided to treat me like a baby again and wipe me down regularly with things called wipes, hmmm! Sadly, they seem wise to me, I’ll have to come up with something new. Maybe I go back to more tree climbing? My Aunty Mike made a real fuss of me at her house and I had loads of space. They had a really big outside bath tub that I wasn’t quite sure about as it had no fish in it. They tall and feed pair seem to be scared a lot, they keep talking about yikes, then disappear, maybe to hide? But when they do, I get some nice R&R and the tall one is always good for fuss when they get back, he’s wrapped around my little paw so he is! I found a picture of him in his next life.