Blogs from Joshua Tree, California, United States, North America

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North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree November 12th 2017

I don't believe that there is an ancient lava field flowing beneath the ground. I don't think it causes an electric current that draws people from all over the earth to its center. I don't think that the electric current has curative powers or even gives people extrasensory powers. I don't think restorative energy flows upward from the ground and can be felt if you believe in it hard enough. The well-dressed lady in the art gallery does. In fact, she is convinced of it. She told me about it at length after I had complimented her on her ceramic work and had only known her for a few minutes. She described it in detail, with eyes twinkling and voice whispering. I think she was speaking from a place in her heart and was being totally ... read more
Boulders
Joshua Tree National Park
Route 66

North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree April 25th 2016

The last morning at Coachella and we are sad to be leaving everyone we have made friends with. We miss saying goodbye to Jenny, Denton, Carley & Ashley as they have to leave before we have even woken up! But we have nearly everyone on facebook so we can stay in touch and exchange photos! The boys are all still around and so are Richard and Hannah. So, we slowly pack up and get everything in the Mustang ready to go. Decide to have last minute shower before we go, but when we get there the showers are closed so we have a wash at the water station instead. Hugh empties buckets of water over his head, but i just wash myself down and stick my feet and head under the tap to get the grime ... read more
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North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree October 6th 2014

I sometimes think of traveling in the United States as being a bit generic. I think of everyone watching the same television shows, eating at the same chain restaurants and watching the same blockbuster Hollywood releases. It seems like you could turn on the radio in most parts of the country and hear the same basic playlists played by DJ’s that have similar sounding voices. Sometimes I think America just doesn’t have the exoticness of India, the artiness of Italy or the eccentricity of Thailand. My thinking would be wrong. Admittedly, uniqueness is a little harder to find in America. You have to get out of the main cities, off the major interstate freeways and away from the fast food outlets. Go into the country, away from what is advertised in the sophisticated glossy magazines. Maybe ... read more
Taos Rays
Taos Sunset
Baliance Rocks

North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree September 17th 2014

On commence la journée par 40 min de sport dans la salle de Fitness du Motel suivi d’une petite baignade avant de se mettre en route pour le Joshua Tree NP. Première embuche : encore un Wallmart ou on voit des vêtements geeks !! 1 heure plus tard nous voilà arriver à la ville fantôme façon Far West de Pioneer Town. Le temps est bon (environ 35 Degrés mais une pluie va arriver) Nous arrivons vers Joshua Tree et la c est le drame on se prend une espèce de Tempête, de cataclysme alors que 2 minutes plus tôt il faisait un temps du feu de dieu… Des torrents de boues traversent les routes et de la grêle tombe. Une personne du centre de Joshua Tree NP nous dit que ça ira une fois en haut… ... read more
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Today we woke up early and left LA for Tucson. It was going to be a long day of driving (about 9 hours), so we decided to break it up by visiting Joshua Tree National Park. We drove for about 3 hours until we got to the park. Unfortunately when we arrived there was no-one at the entrance gate, so we couldn't get a map of the park. We drove around ourselves and managed to find a few cool spots. The National Park was filled with Joshua Tree's, which are trees with lots of Yucca Plants on them, and there were piles and piles of boulders which formed some really cool shapes. The temperature was 47 degrees celcius!! It was so hot it felt like we were in an oven, unlike anything we'd ever experienced. We ... read more
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North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree April 17th 2010

Geo: 34.1347, -116.312For our second day hiking in Joshua Tree NP we did the Lost Horse Mine Trail, about a 6.5 mile loop around the Lost Horse Mountain, including a short spur trail to the actual abandoned mine site. Met a nice young man who has started on the same goal we have of hiking in as many national parks as we can before we become too old and decrepit to do it any more. Hopefully we can get most of them in. He has plenty of time to do all of them. On the last half of the Lost Horse Mine Trail we hiked along a valley with lots of Joshua Trees. Many had huge flower blossoms on them. The Joshua Trees are so named because the first settlers thought they looked like Joshua of ... read more
Along the Lost Horse Mine Trail
A Joshua Tree
A Joshua Tree Flower

North America » United States » California » Joshua Tree April 16th 2010

Geo: 34.1347, -116.312After spending Thursday night in Azusa, CA, enroute to Joshua Tree NP we drove on to the park by way of Interstate 15. Between Banning, CA, and Palm Springs, CA there is a valley with very strong winds and many, many windmills taking advantage of all that free energy. Stopped at a California Welcome Center in Yuca Valley and got some advice from a ranger there about hikes. Drove on to the park and hiked the Queen Mine trail, a trail to the ruins of a series of abandoned gold mines. One information sign indicated that over 4,000 ounces of gold had been extracted from the mines. Lots of old mine entrances were all around the mountains there. All had been blocked off with screens to prevent entry and injury to sightseers. PHOTO_ID_... read more
Abandoned mining equipment
From the Queen Mine Trail
At one of the Queen Mine entrances


Ever since Steve and I first traveled US Rt. #1 from LA to San Francisco (1974) I have wanted to do it again. It is the most dramatic stretch of highway I have ever seen. The cliffs meet the ocean in such a spectacular way; and when the sun is shining on it all; oh my! So after leaving the Santa Barbara food co-op, which is doing quite well because a lot of UC-SB students must be health-minded; we headed north. That night’s camping was a little wet. One of my only complaints about the Gypsy Outhouse is that it doesn’t provide much shelter unless you are sitting in the front seats riding/driving or lying down in bed. It has been so cold we have not been using the rear tent at all. I’m not ... read more
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Stellar Jay
California Redwood


Our next phase of the trip was to meet up with our son, Nick, in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. This was a park that neither of us had explored but Nick knows quite well and we were really looking forward to being introduced. We met Nick in the Cottonwood campground, on the south side of the park. Before he arrived, we were looking all over for Joshua Trees, not knowing that we were in the Sonoran Desert and Joshua Trees don’t grow there. This large park is comprised of the Sonoran in the south and the Mojave Desert in the north and the vegetation and geology are quite different. As shown in the Photo 1, the landscape was rolling and dotted with creosote bushes with mountains in the background. We visited an oasis ... read more
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