Day 13 – Joshua Tree NP Day 2 with a Surprise Finish

Our plan today was to visit as many sightseeing stops within the park as we could. Rob chose a different entrance at the town of 29 Palms so we’d be closer to the sights. It was an hour drive from our hotel in Indio. The temp in the morning was in the mid-50’s at the hotel. Most of the park entrances are at least an hour from where we are. We stopped at the 29 Palms visitor’s center, got lunch at Subway for a picnic in the park, and drove into the park. We thought today being a Monday might be less crowded than yesterday, but that was not the case. Still, we easily found parking spots and never encountered traffic jams either on the road or on the trails. 

First up was Skull Rock. We took a few quick snaps then hiked the Skull Rock Nature Trail, a 1.7mi loop. Along the way we learned about the plants and animals, such as the kangaroo rat and the creosote bush. The granite formations here were molten rock 80 million years ago. Erosion created the rocks we see today. They are beneficial to plant and animal life as they retain trace amounts of water at their base, more so than in open areas.

During the hike we walked through the Jumbo Rocks campground. There are 99 campsites interspersed within the rock areas. Certainly a unique place to spend a day or two.

Back on the trail, we finished up at 1pm and were very hungry. We drove 15 minutes to the Hidden Valley picnic area since we saw picnic tables there yesterday. Rob found us a great spot secluded from the main parking lot and we enjoyed a scenic lunch. The temperature was in the low 60’s. In the sun it was very comfortable in a short sleeve shirt. In the shade however it was quite cool and we had to wear our fleeces.

Rob caught a few pictures of some of the guests that visited us during lunch.

After, as we were walking up to the Hidden Valley trailhead for a hike, one of the little squirrels was very tame and ran over to Rob and sniffed both of his boots! 

We started the trail and quickly decided it was the most interesting and beautiful of those we’ve been on the past two days. Surrounded by the granite walls, the little valley within has its own unique climate. Cacti that can survive in the desert are not able to survive here due to the low temperatures during the winter. Other trees and plants also adapt because there is more water here than elsewhere in the park.

We then made our way over to Cap Rock and hiked the small nature trail there.

Rob said the title of this picture was “The Last Supper”. Can you guess why?

 

Since we had over an hour left until sunset, we drove back to the Key View that we visited yesterday to see if the views were any clearer. At 1,000 feet higher than where we just hiked below, it was notably colder at 4pm. Rob caught a few interesting snaps at the top of the mountain.

Rob said he’d like to try astrophotography at our picnic spot tonight. We drove back to Hidden Valley and Rob set up his camera gear to catch sunset shots. He saw a black-tailed jackrabbit that didn't stick around for long.

Meanwhile, Michele set up her piano in the Mazda’s back seat to practice. A full-sized keyboard at 88 keys just fits in the Mazda’s back seat with a scant one inch on either side before it hits the doors! Rob thought she should have set up outside on the picnic table and taken requests from hikers. She was able to practice until the light faded, then worked on the blog from the car.

This is the Mazda and you can barely see a little light inside where Michele is working on her laptop.

Suddenly Rob ran over to the car and tapped the window telling Michele to hurry out and come see. Look at this!

Michele asked, “What’s happening? Is the world ending?!” Rob said it’s a rocket launch. We found out later it was a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching more Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. It was rescheduled to tonight. It was high enough that the setting sun was lighting up the contrails. We could even see a first stage separation of the reusable booster. This is the coolest thing we’ve ever seen in the night sky! When Rob told Michele to quickly get out of the car to come see, she was expecting an animal sighting, not that!

With that excitement over with, Michele went back to the warmth of the car and Rob worked on more night pictures. In this next picture Rob used the technique of light painting. The glow of the moon is on the upper left and he "painted" the rock with a flashlight to illuminate it better during the exposure. 

Check out the constellations! The moon was very bright tonight, naturally lighting the rocks.

Rob finished up around 7pm with the temps having fallen to 40F and he could no longer feel his toes. With the camera gear stowed away and feeling returning to Rob’s feet, we drove the 1 hour 20 minutes back to our hotel area and picked up takeout dinner at the Hawaiian BBQ place again. Since we accomplished so much in the park today, we may visit a museum or do something different tomorrow.