When I meet the park ranger who leads the geological hike today in Joshua Tree National Park at 3800 ft I’m going to tell him that he needed have made it snow to make a Canadian feel welcome. Hopefully he/she has a sense of humour. From the looks of it I and the kit foxes are going to have the 15-site campground where I’m parked—there are no hook-ups—to ourselves tonight—Monday, February 9.
Yes I’ve made it to Southern California but it’s been raining and windy since I got here. I posted my last entries on Groundhog Day in Salt Lake City KOA where I took a lay-over day in part to rest up and also as a result of the fact that Utah Drivers were, as the Kampground Staffer put it, playing bumper cars on the highway. Every route out of town was jammed. Last Tuesday I headed south 200 miles to Beaver, Utah. The highway led through valleys between mountain ranges and the trip was uneventful. Just as Brigham Young’s home, the Beehive is emblematic of industry the same symbolism is at work in naming this town after Canada’s national symbol—Mormons are to be busy as beavers. Only 8 of the Kampground’s sites were open for the winter and the plumbing was dodgy.
After a night of temperatures that plunged to the mid-teens I drove down to Zion a mere 100 miles distant. Again the Mormon influence as the man who named the place considered it Sanctuary as in a verse he read in his Bible. Sanctuary it was as the temperature hit 80º F that day and remained warm overnight. It’s hard not to be over-awed by the sight of 5000 ft red cliffs hemming in canyons as narrow as 20 ft. A place like this creates its own climate and in the areas where the sun rarely if ever reaches there was definitely snow and ice. After taking the scenic drive I got out my bicycle and tried out the biking trail. I really didn’t know how to photograph such grand landscapes. The gentleman I saw with a 10X8 large format camera might have had some ideas however. Although the park is a true wonder the ten miles of commercial ventures that begin just outside its gates are something else.
Thursday morning I struck out south along I-15. There are only 29 miles of I-15 in Arizona and all of them are downhill at a 5 to 6º grade spiralling ever downward. Coming out of the mountains at last one enters the Mojave Desert. At this point the road heads straight across the desert with fences on each side. Crossing into Nevada there is a huge sign advertising a Welcome Centre with free Wi-Fi but no indication of where to find it. All I could see were gambling casinos so I kept driving. I arrived at Las Vegas to discover the entire road system there under construction. After crawling along for 4.5 miles I was glad to take Hwy 93 south to Lake Mead.
At Lake Mead I discovered that a 225 site RV Park offered only one dial computer for its entire busy clientele. Noting that and the $63.00 a night fee I decided I could rough it next door without hook-ups for $10.00 a night. After visiting the Park’s visitor centre I found a likely campsite, got down my bicycle and went for a long ride. That evening it remained relatively warm and the stars were brilliant save for the bright lights of Vegas to the North. Met the campground host in his 40-foot palace on wheels who complained that the park supplied him with only a 30 AMP service which barely ran his two A/C units during the 115º heat of summer. What can I say?
Before I left Friday morning I got a shot of a rainbow lit by the rising sun. Even the road to the Hoover Dam was under construction so I gave it a pass. As I approached California the road rose before my eyes straight and true. There are two separate lanes for trucks separated by a large median from two car lanes straight up the mountain. These are gravel mountains, not snow-capped and the pass topped out at 4000 feet before heading down again. A sticker I’d left on my lone apple saved it from confiscation by Agricultural Inspection. Shortly thereafter I pulled into Barstow KOA in California and met Salt Cedars and a “unisex” toilet. When I learned that rain and thundershowers were in the offing for the next day I decided another layover was in order. I spent the day Saturday ridding my computer of Norton Internet Security which was managing to freeze up a fast computer with 6 GB of memory and when I was finally finished I got back control of my own computer. It rained overnight Friday and most of Saturday. Spent the day writing E-mail after getting a shower and filling my internal water tank.
Woke early Sunday morning not having yet adjusted to the Pacific Time Zone. After getting I and the RV set struck out to find Joshua Tree National Park. At Victorville on I-15 railed about the challenge that was finding the California Welcome Centre. Unlike most states this one was on a slip-off lane off the highway but hidden away in an ill-marked plaza after a ½ mile drive. Don’t think they want to welcome tourists. Shortly after I got back on the road found myself rising into the mountains on another of those straight up roads. The summit topped out at 4000 ft and then headed straight down again. At least the angle was not as precipitous as I have encountered but if one doesn’t watch it one’s speed tends to creep up. Although the wind was behind me it did gust continually as well. In the valley between two mountain passes it started raining first light mist and then large splotches of rain. The mountain peaks were lost in the mist. The rain continued as I passed through San Bernardino and after I got off the highway for gas I had some problems following my GPS’ direction back onto my intended route.
Finding Joshua Tree was not as easy as one might expect. There are several on-road and off-road routes to the park and my GPS led me wrong. After taking my own head for it I found my way to the visitors centre where I learned I needed exact cash to pay for camping. Ouch! This meant a 38 mile drive through the park to the nearest ATM. At least it was a Bank of America so I won’t be socked transfer fees. Found a campsite among the rocks and settled in for the night after getting some camera shots. The moonlight last night in the full of the moon was brilliant and lit up the landscape almost like daylight. It was waking up this morning to rain and then snow that took the shine off affairs. The geology hike was even cancelled due to weather. I and two other intrepid souls took the path back to the granite arch clambering over the rocks anyway. Coming back to hot tea felt good though.
I wish I could report that the weather improved but I spent a night being rocked by the elements in my RV, listening to my furnace run, and the wind whistle around my air vents.
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