Yucca = Joshua

Happy V-Day.


The 1st of February, I had left Phoenix with a destination of the Joshua Tree National Park. Leaving Arizona, my clock got pushed back once again. But that did not help with getting to the park before the sun set. The moon was near full and quite bright with no clouds in the sky. Driving through the park at night always worries me sometimes with a fear of hitting an animal and doing severe damage to it or my car. The drive from the southern entrance to the campground I had chosen was nearly an hour. Along the way there were groupings of rocks sticking out of the ground right next to the street, with the moonlight they almost had an animal nature to them... they kind of freaked me out a bit. I got to my campground near the trail I was planing on hiking the next day. I set up my tent and didn't bother staking it down because without a mallet the stakes were not going anywhere. After getting the tent set up, it was time for dinner, another Backpackers Pantry meal with the help of my Jetboil. It was a bit chilly that evening so I had some hot coaco before bed. Once in bed it was a rough night I would wake up occasionally with a running nose and a bit colder than tolerable. I remembered that I had a sleeping bag liner in the trunk but there was no way I was going to get there to improve my comfort level without suffering even more so it went unused.

I woke up the next morning with the sun, but it was hidden behind the mountain that I was going to shortly conquer. That meant that it was still chilly and there was even frost on my tent and car. I packed up my stuff and my half frozen tent got thrown in the back seat of my car with plans on washing it out soon, frost + sand = bad news. I made my way over to the Ryan Mountain trail somewhere between 3-4 mile hike with a 1000+ foot elevation change. I had my trail mix with me for breakfast and I think my lack of real nutrition really hurt my climb. Once at the top it was a different story though, I was energized by the stunning views of the park, the deserts, the mountains. I could even hear the rings of artillery coming from the Marine Corps base 29 Palms just to the north. The only creatures I saw while on the trail were a couple of white tailed rabbits. The hike down was much easier. Once at my car I raced to get out of the park so to get some cell service to give my Pops a call for his birthday before he got to work since I had missed giving him a call the day before. There was even a Starbucks calling my name once out of the park. I made it into Carlsbad in time for a late lunch before meeting up with Kevin, who will be referred to as Bob for here on.