Blogs from Mojave National Preserve, California, United States, North America

Finally, on May 5th, we were ready to depart. We'd said goodbye to our neighbors and friends, who graciously allowed us to pick fruit from their orchard to add to our provisions. We'd said emotional good-byes to our parents and grandfather, knowing we would miss them terribly, but as excited as anything to be leaving at last. We decided that we would camp the first evening in Joshua Tree National Park, but as we drove through the mountains, we passed the high-elevation town of Idyllwild, where we had camped before, years ago. Since we had gotten a late start, we decided, that if a campground in these beautiful mountains was open, we would camp there. We stopped at an overlook, Indian Vista, and gazed down the mountain chain. Pine trees soared on every side, mid-afternoon light ... read more

We entered southern California, expecting to stop at a visitor's centre to pick up brochures; instead we were greeted by yet another border patrol / truck inspection site. We had seen these in New Mexico and Arizona...but like everywhere else, we were just waved through, leaving us to wonder what that was all about. Taxpayer dollars hard at work? We needed supplies, but unfortunately for us, we had to drive past our destination to the town of Indio. By this point, both of us were a little sick of driving, so getting lost in Indio didn't suit us well. After picking up our supplies, we grumpily drove back towards the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, our next destination. As we pulled off the highway to fuel up, we noticed what looked to be some RV's ... read more

As I headed out of Death Valley with its bizarre and surreal terrain, I decided to take a side trip over to Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas, NV to do a little rock climbing. Having tasted the joys of scrambling over massive boulders of sticky granite in Yosemite, I was intrigued by what might be waiting in this little, rocky hideaway. My body had other ideas however. Rather than jumping onto the beckoning canyon walls, I found myself nearly passed out in a hidden oasis called Mountain Spring Ranch. Horses were having a languid brunch in the shelter of massive, craggy monoliths; and low, quiet oaks were lazily waving their arms as they woke up to the birds and morning light peeking over the mountain range. Stepping into that tranquil garden seemed to ... read more