Joshua Tree Tour…

We decided out of the gate this morning to head up and visit Joshua Tree National Park… what a place… you need more than one day, but we took a big bite out of it today!

It was 88 degrees F. in Palm Springs today, which set a record for this time of year!  It was HOT!

Lucky for us, at about 4,000 feet up, Joshua Tree was only about 72 degrees which made it very nice for touring!

NOTE to Debbie and Gerard… put this place on your bucket list!

This is only one, of about 4,500,000 Joshua Trees in this park… they are kind of neat.

This park is world famous for non other than Rock Climbing… can you see the climbers in the pic below…

You have to be brave to do this kind of thing… thankfully, my RBC Travel Insurance does not allow me to do this, so I had to pass on it…

I had the big lens on my camera, and this guy was over 400 feet up there… gotta be nuts!

If you are a rock hound, you want to be here…

No clue what type of tree this was, but it looked like a cool pic…

We toured this canyon, that old cowboys used to hide cattle in, so no one would find them… about a 1 mile hike… lots of rocks!

This young gal climbed this rock, but I don’t know how!

Everywhere we looked, people were climbing… ya, that is a guy on top of this mountain below…

There was a natural mini lake, that was enhanced with a dam we visited.  Cowboys would use it to water the cows. 

This is the dry side of the dam… lots of water because of recent rain in the lake.

We visited Keys View, which is up a mountain over 5,200 feet up.  You had a commanding view of the whole Corcella Valley including Palm Springs, and the Salton Sea.  You could see 100 miles in any direction!   In the pic below, you will see a line cut the picture in half sideways… that my friends, is the San Andreas Fault!

It was windy up on the look out!  Mount Jacinto behind me with the white peak!  Every year, the mountain moves 2 inches away from where I am standing due to tectonic plate movements of the earth!

Here is a clear view of the Salton Sea, and if you see the peak of the mountain past the Sea, then you can see MEXICO!

It was about 120 klms. through the park.  After the mountain view, we found Skull Rock… no kidding… I don’t make this up ya know…

OK, so how about this one, Arches Rock!  Now that is better!   It is all made of granite rock!  Awesome!  One day in the future, it will fall!

Here is a quick lesson on how the rocks above are made… pay attention!

Yup, Judy took my favourite pic of the day!

This park is too big to try and report it all in one day… don’t worry, we will be back!

Thanks to Bob over in Apache Junction for mailing my glasses back to me… I will keep an eye on our mail box Bob!

Good to speak to John and Pat M. tonight in Alliston, Ont.  They fly out this Sunday for a month long trip to this area including a ski trip to Big Bear and a 2 week stay in our Resort!  Can’t wait!  I will try and keep some good weather for you guys! 

Phew… that is enough for tonight!

Till tomorrow…