Corn Springs to Joshua Tree NP

Before we left Corn Springs we took some overhead shots and then took a walk to look at some more petroglyphs and then up the wash to the Gus Lederer Cabin.  Lederer (1868-1932) lived in a cabin overlooking the wash and was known as a “prospector, burro fancier, gardener, and “Mayor of Corn Springs.”  He died in 1932 from a black widow bite and is buried on a hill about two miles from his cabin.

After leaving the Chuckwalla Mountain Wikderness (we did meet another camper on its way in), we headed west on I-10 with a stop at Desert Center for lunch.  This “town” was Founded in 1921 by Steve Ragsdale who had fallen in love with the desert while traveling From Arkansas to Los Angeles and had a car breakdown.  He moved his family there and created a town.  Most the buildings are closed and ruined now and many of the palms planted around it are dead.  We read that children who live in the area now take a bus 120 mikes round trip to school each day.

The drive was through scrubby desert rimmed by mountains until we descended into the plain where Palm Springs is located.

We arrived to find our campsite in the Black Rock Campground in Joshua Tree NP in the late afternoon.  The weather, because we are at 4000 feet, is much colder.  Our site is tight, not very level, but has a pretty view of the mountains.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)