09.04 - Day 85 - Palm Springs & Joshua Tree National Park
Tuesday 9th April - Palm Springs - Joshua Tree National Park (Day 85)
This mini break is a bit of a dry run for our larger upcoming road trip. We had bought cereal and milk yesterday but came unstuck when we realised we have no bowls of spoons, resorting to eating out of a cup. A picnic set is now on the list to buy before we depart - though we have already invested in two flasks for teas and coffees for the long drives. Seb is surprisingly perky given he deposited yesterday’s lunch and dinner in the sink overnight - we’re not sure what caused this.
We drive the 50 minutes to Joshua Tree National Park which rather unexpectedly is at 1,300 metres altitude, far above the 100 metre elevation of Palm Springs. When we step out at the Information Centre to buy our America The Beautiful national park pass (US$80 for a year where daily entry costs US$30) it is both brighter and cooler. In fact whilst we are bathed in bright blue skies the temperature doesn’t rise above 20 degrees, more than 10 degrees cooler than down in Palm Springs.
Armed with our pass we drive several miles to the park and to our first stop Hidden Valley. There’s a one mile loop walk between the huge, mostly smoothed rock that has been left protruding after softer stone and soil has washed away.
Although there’s a track, you can scramble up every rock and indeed there are rock climbers working in pairs making their way slowly upwards. Apart from the small hardy shrubs there are large Yucca trees in this area where cattle used to be herded.
Scattered around are cacti, some with bright red small flowers. With the bright blue sky it’s a very impressive area and indeed park - this type of scenery which we’ve never seen before is exactly why we wanted to visit.
Seb’s first interaction he’s less happy about being here as he slips over four times on the dusty, gravel path - but snacks back by the car soon repair the damage.
A couple of minutes drive brings us to Bakers Dam, another family friendly loop walk veering between these stone boulders (and climbing on them) past a very small dam filled with murky water (not sure there’s much fresh rain to refill here) to a large, expanse of Joshua Trees, their trunks looking almost funny with several thick green spiky pom poms on top.
It’s a several mile drive up to Key’s View atop the National Park, with car friendly access leaving only a 50 metre stroll to the breezy top. Vast views to the South and West looking down past the wind farms over Palm Springs to snow capped mountains. Apparently a visible peak in the distance is a mountain just over the border in Mexico, 90 miles away. Lunch is prepared on a wall, some wraps made on location.
Along the well kept roads we drive to Skull Rock which if you don’t think or look too hard is skull like, all 20 feet of it. Sienna and I scramble on some of the rocks and find Elephant Rock which we rated better than Skull Rock, though Kate was less impressed.
By now it’s approaching 3pm and so we head to Cap Rock (50 metre high rock with a 5 metre flat rock hanging precariously - though it's probably been ‘picarious’ for hundreds of years) for a guided tour led by Ranger Meg. There's about 40 of us on this hour-long walk around the rock formation with half a dozen stops to impart information which is often met with strong and loud ‘Oh wow’ or ‘Yeah’ from some stereotypical Americans.
The Joshua Tree takes up to 120 years to reach full size. Their roots only go about 8-12 inches into the hard ground despite being 20-30 feet tall. Ranger Meg talks of the animals that live here; the lizards small and large we’d already spotted, so too the chipmunks which we’d seen in a few spots and the oversized black Ravens floating above us.
One animal mentioned is the road runner which we don’t see on our walkabouts, but suddenly do spot darting across the road as we leave the park - funny little looking bird.
We had wondered about staying till sunset to visit the Cactus Garden, but our first Range Anxiety with the Tesla has crept in - we started at 80% battery, which was 60% by the time we got to the park and is now down to 40%, plus we’d need to exit the park for food and return in which would drop us near 20% - and we know the nearest charger is back in Palm Springs - which cost us 20% on the way here.
On the way out of the park, homeward bound then, we stop at the Information Centre for Sienna and Seb to hand in their Junior Ranger booklet they’d filled in as we went around the park with questions on animals and plants spotted, or imagining shapes in the rock. We bump into Ranger Meg again who then proceeds to voice out the Junior Ranger Pledge which earns both kids a shield shaped wooden badge with Joshua Tree engraved on it. A great scheme ran across all the parks, especially keeping Sienna engaged and Seb never wants to be left behind.
The range anxiety evaporates on the journey home to Palm Springs, mostly downhill and so exactly the same route which was 20% of battery use one way was only 3% on the return journey. Lesson learnt, regenerative braking works.
We get ribs and burgers for dinner on the main strip and soon the sun is setting behind the mountains and we’re settling down for the night ourselves.