Joshua Tree NP Rocks
Aside from the Joshua Trees, this national park is known for its rocks. Huge piles of soft, rounded rocks made of monzogranite which look as if they were piled and placed by human hands rather then uplift and erosion.
We drove into the park early on Thursday morning hoping to find a site for the weekend. We found one at Belle Campground on the east side of the park. The sign entering the campground said “full,” but we found there were still five spaces available. Sadly, we had passed up the Hidden Valley Campground when we saw the “full” sign there — likely there were spaces there. Our site at Belle is nestled into a rock pile and quite private. The CG has few amenities: picnic tables, hibachi grills, pit toilets, no water, but beautiful views of the rocks, trees, and mountains.
We spent the day wandering around among the rock piles. A two-mile walk at Split Rock was probably the highlight, but wandering around the perimeter of the pile at Live Oak Picnic area was nice as there was only one other family in the area. At Skull Rock we wandered through the nearly one mile Discovery Trail which got us away from the crowds of people interested in the skull shaped rock.
Joshua Tree NP is at a higher elevation (4000 feet) and a cold front has come through so it is cold here overnight — 34-degrees overnight. Fortunately we have a diesel furnace. We had AT&T cell service on and off at the campsite so mostly had to drive a few miles north to collect our home newspaper.
-- Janet (text) and David (photos)
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