Joshua Tree

 

                               

Feb 11, 2025 - It is a 7 hour drive from Tucson to our next stop, Joshua Tree National Park.  We have reservations at Black Rock Canyon Campground ($17/night with our Sr National Park Pass).  The campground is on the northwestern side of the park, and not far from the town of Joshua Tree.  Last time we were here we stayed at Indian Cove Campground, not far from here.  The Black Rock Nature Center is at the campground (it's pretty small with not much going on).  There are lots of hiking trails that leave from the campground and we'll probably just stick close, since we've been doing so much driving.

Sunrise in Tucson

I love a sunrise over the mountains

Tiny's

We drove by Pinal Airpark (between Tucson and Phoenix).  The "Boneyard" is a site for storage of out of service aircraft.  The dry desert climate prevents corrosion.  It is the largest airplane storage facility of its kind in the world.

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We drove by Picacho Peak State Park, doesn't it have a distinctive peak?  We camped here for a week in 2018.  It has some really nice hiking trails.

We made it to California!  The Agricultural border check station. 

 

If you look closely there are mountains in the distance, but it's really windy here in Palm Springs and the visibility is quite low.

A little less windy as we drove

lots and lots of wind turbines and solar panels

Sunset from our campground

Site 15 in Black Rock Canyon Campground.  There aren't any hookups here (like most NP campgrounds), but there is a bathroom (but no showers) and a dump station and potable water.

nice evening view out the window

Feb 12, 2025 - We enjoyed a chill morning "at home" and then hiked the High View Nature Trail, which is 3 miles round trip, right from the campground.  It was a pretty hike and the views from the top were great!

hiking up

nice view, and a little sun popped out

gray day

there's a roadrunner

up close

We're Headed South on Our Way West

                                

                                 

Feb 6-8, 2025 - Elaine and Ian bought a new house in Los Osos and we're going to Cali to help with some demolition in the house and to help them move.  We've only been home from Hawaii for 3 days, but we're already bored and the weather looks like it's going to be cold and snowy, so why not leave now?  We decided on Thursday to leave and it only took a few hours for Kevin to un-winterize the van and for us to pack it up with everything we need.  It was going to get into the low 20's Thursday night, so we planned a route that would keep us out of the cold.  We drove 2.5 hours to just south of Louisville, where it was going to hit a low of 32 (which we can handle with an un-winterized RV).  We stayed at Walmart in Sheppardsville, KY.  On Friday we drove 11.5 hours to a Cracker Barrel in Greenville, TX (just east of Dallas).  Saturday we drove 10 hours to El Paso, where we stayed in a Walmart Parking lot.  

                     

pretty sunrise this morning

In Western Texas we're finally seeing some mountains in the distance

lots of cargo trains out here

Feb 9, 2025 -  Today we have a short drive day...only 5 hours to Tucson.  We've been to Tucson before and enjoyed the biking trail in the city (we brought our bikes) and we liked Saguaro National Park.  I found a private campground (Desert Trails RV Park) just outside of Tucson where we'll stay for the next 2 nights.  It's got full hook-ups and is only $50/night.   

I liked this sign welcoming us to New Mexico

more cargo trains

and lots of Saguaros!

that's a hillside full of them

We've got our very own Saguaro at site G4

Feb 10, 2025 - Today we took the bikes to Tucson for a bike ride on the Tucson loop trail.  We started at the Santa Cruz River Park Silver Lake Access.  We did a 10 mile ride, crossing over the "river" (riverbed) half way and riding back to the car down the other side.  After the bike ride we drove to Gates Pass Scenic Overlook for a hike and then to Saguaro National Park Red Hills Visitor Center.  We had dinner in the park with a view of the saguaros.  When we got back to the campground Kev finished off the day with Rummikub at the Activity Center.  

the view out the RV window this morning

I just had to "hop" onto this frog along the bike trail

lunch at the trailhead

Tucson in the distance

we ran into a horse along the way

watch out for the ice on the bridge!

nice sculpture 

view from the Gates Pass Scenic Overlook Trail in Tucson Mountain Park

sweeping views

it was a nice hike!

view from the Saguaro NP visitor center

this is what the frame of a Saguaro looks like. 

A cross section of a Saguaro.  The frame is in the middle, surrounded by water.  You can guess the age of a Saguaro based on how tall it is.  A one inch Saguaro is 5-10 years old.  They begin to grow branches (arms) at 50-100 years.  Old age and death are at 150-200 years and a few saguaros can live to be over 200 years old and reach 50 feet in height

Tiny looks good in among the saguaros

pretty desert colors