Always been intrigued about Joshua Tree, a climbing mecca. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Not towering peaks like the Tetons. But boulders, big boulders stacked on top of one another everywhere in between all the proliferic Yucca plants. And it was crowded! The most crowded so far, except for Yellowstone.

We arrived too late to go into the park for a campground but they were all full anyway. It was sunset and we were in a new place so our fallback, as always, was Walmart. And next to it there happened to be a Dickey’s BBQ! Score! Since it was my birthday I decided to treat myself. Yumm…but sadly okra was out of season so no fried okra, my fav..

Next day we spent scouting out JT planning to come back at a later time. Did a couple of small hikes: Skull Rock (looks just like a skull), Keys View with breathtaking views of the San Andreas Fault/Mount San Jacinto, and Hidden Valley, a rock-enclosed valley that was once rumored to have been used by cattle rustlers. Watched climbers climbing. Would have been fun to rope up.

It was just a day trip to get the lay of the land. We decided to get to Quartzsite and set up/caught up since we had been on the move for so long. We are only 1.5 hours from Joshua Tree so we’ll be back for more exploration!