Heather and I managed to get out to Joshua Tree in the brief window when the park was closed to vehicles but open to hikers and bikers (it is now fully closed). We parked at the Indian Cove entrance and biked up the fan to the campground. I had never been hiking out to the far west side where there is a short nature loop so that's where we headed except we opted for a boulder scrambling cross country jaunt. We passed few hikers on the road and certainly saw no one once we left it. It was surreal to see a totally empty Indian Cove campground.
I had my sights set on a longer "floor is lava" scouting mission but progress was slow and so it quickly devolved into a get out and explore trip. The scenery was great as usual, the weather surprisingly warm. We took a break in a hammock and then worked our way down a large boulder pile with 20ft deep pits in places. After a few wrong turns we found our way down to the valley floor and strolled back over the to bikes. The alluvial fan grade made for excellent high speed no-hands riding back down to the entrance. It was good to get out!
No comments:
Post a Comment