Carla and I got up early Wednesday morning for an outing to Joshua Tree and meet up with one of her girlfriends who had just bought a house there. We decided to visit my fathers former old cabin, 5 miles outside of town, and then head for the National Park.
Our neighbor Karen took care of our doggies so as to leave the day open.
Our first stop was the old family homestead...actually, the land was homesteaded if you built a minimum 600 sq ft cabin. Dad and my grandmother homesteaded 5 acres and erected this cabin in the mid '50's. Dad sold it in the early 2000's for a princely sum of 23K. As kids we would go out for the weekend exploring the desert looking for snakes and tortoises.
In town when I was a kid, we'd dig up tortoises from their burrows and race them at the town turtle races once a year. Looking back, not the greatest of ideas.
Before meeting Jennifer we wanted to do a short mile hike up "Coyote Hole Canyon" to see some petroglyphs.
This was one of many signs...most said no trespassing or stay out but some other hikers advised us to ignore the signs, which we did of course.
We did come across some great examples of early Indian graffiti.
This was the very end of Coyote Hole Box Canyon. It truly was a box canyon because I had to scale some very steep walls just to get on top of this 20' rock in order to take a photo.
Water can't even get through this rock, they were so tightly packed in. We were told when it rains there would be a 20 foot waterfall and while on top, I could see where the flow would of been.
Not a canyon you would want to be in, if it was raining.
Carla got a BLT and we shared, although I regretted it later...mine was so much more interesting.
After lunch we did a drive-by through the national park. We weren't alone...it was very busy. I must say it's nice to have the "over 62 year old pass" that allows us free entrance to any national park, monument's, or federal museums. Also if we camp...50% off posted camp fees.
Our neighbor Karen, who was watching the dogs for us, asked us to take a picture of a Joshua Tree...she had never seen one.
I found this healthy beauty near the road as a good example to show Karen.
If I cared to camp in the park, I get 50% off the regular rate...how much off did this guy get?
There were plenty of rocks and large mounds to climb, and the climbers to do it. We saw numerous walls of rock with people using ropes and crampons scampering up the cliffs.
Hey, even at 68 I can climb too, as long as I am not dependent on a rope or someone at the other end for protection.
It was a long day and beautiful scenery on such a wonderful day, weather wise.
Thanks all for now...
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