{"id":1506,"date":"2013-03-11T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningnewsinverse.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2013-03-11T08:26:50","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T15:26:50","slug":"another-walk-in-the-park-joshua-tree-national-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=1506","title":{"rendered":"Another Walk in the Park: JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL &#8211; Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1513\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cholla-cactus.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1513\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1513\" alt=\"Cholla Cactus\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cholla-cactus-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1513\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cholla Cactus<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><b><br \/>\n<\/b>by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\">It was all I could do to make a left turn when traveling southeast on <strong>Interstate 10<\/strong> through the <strong>Mojave Desert<\/strong>.\u00a0 The usual right turn takes me into the <strong>Palm Spring\/Palm Desert<\/strong> communities where for years I\u2019ve gone to relax, play golf and perhaps partake of a margarita, maybe two.\u00a0 But last week, turning left took me into <strong>Joshua Tree National Park<\/strong> where hiking and camping replaced golf and margaritas.\u00a0 \u2018The Boys\u2019 and I planned to camp and spend the weekend hiking just to see what was shakin\u2019 around the <strong>San Andreas Fault<\/strong>, which runs through the park.\u00a0 Even though I\u2019ve lived within two hours of \u2018Josh\u2019 (we\u2019re now on a first-name basis), I had never been there.\u00a0 Apparently I\u2019m not the only one late to this party, Joshua Tree was a mere <strong>National Monument<\/strong> (at slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island it was quite a large monument!) until as recently as 1994, when it finally became a National Park.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\">&#8216;The Boys&#8217; are:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1512\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/get-attachment-e1362863059997.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1512\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1512\" alt=\"Sparky, Avalanche, Greeter, Trail Boss\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/get-attachment-e1362863059997-150x150.jpeg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1512\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sparky, Avalanche, Greeter, Trail Boss<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Patrick \u2018Trail Boss\u2019 Michael<\/strong>, who plans the trips, draws the permits, has all the trail maps, plans the menu and \u00a0 brings the firewood.\u00a0 He\u2019s an engineer by trade \u2013 what a surprise!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0&#8211; <strong>Bob \u2018Sparky\u2019 Pacelli<\/strong>, who insists we each carry a walkie-talkie even though we never get more than 20 feet from each other during the entire weekend.\u00a0 The only time the walkie-talkies were used was when he heard from a trucker on Interstate 10 trying to get lucky.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Rick \u2018Greeter\u2019 Sullivan<\/strong>, the friendliest man on the trail; greets everyone he meets with his big, easy smile. If he\u2019s at your campfire make sure you have plenty of wood, \u2018cause he\u2019s got plenty of stories.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Richard \u2018Chuck Wagon\u2019 Wade<\/strong>, who is not a hiker, but asked if he could come along and cook.\u00a0 Hell yeah!\u00a0 Since he\u2019s a forensic doctor with a degree from Harvard, we respectfully call him Dr. Chuck Wagon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; My nickname is <strong>\u2018Avalanche\u2019<\/strong> because I used to come down a hill fairly quickly, that was then, now they\u2019re thinking about changing my name to \u2018Lava Floe\u2019 or \u2018Petrified Rock\u2019.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1511\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2013-03-03-09.15.42-e1362862844838.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1511\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1511\" alt=\"Dr. Chuck Wagon\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2013-03-03-09.15.42-e1362862844838-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Chuck Wagon<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We entered the park at the <strong>Cottonwood Springs<\/strong> entrance, which is at the far southeastern corner; our campsite was at the <strong>Black Rock Nature Center<\/strong>, which is at the far northwestern corner, so it allowed us to drive through the middle of the park (about 65 miles), stopping along the way when we found something interesting.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1508\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2013-03-01-12.13.36-e1362862472269.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1508\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1508\" alt=\"Bra &amp; Shoe Tree\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/2013-03-01-12.13.36-e1362862472269-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bra &amp; Shoe Tree<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The first interesting site we saw was the rare <strong>\u2018Bra &amp; Shoe Tree\u2019<\/strong> (photo left).\u00a0 Nope, not sure how they got there, but I\u2019d appreciate it if the person who put them there would call my wife and explain \u2013 she\u2019s not sure what kind of camping we were doing.<\/p>\n<p>Our first stop was right inside the gate where there is a good long hike (<strong>Lost Palms Oasis<\/strong>) and a good short one (<strong>Mastodon Peak<\/strong>).\u00a0 Given that we had \u2018miles to go before we sleep\u2019 we took the shorter hike, which took us past the old <strong>Mastodon Gold Mine<\/strong> and ultimately to <strong>Mastodon Peak<\/strong> which provided us a great view of the <strong>Salton Sea<\/strong> and the namesake rock, the one that looks like a mastodon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Tree is filled with all kinds of interesting rock formation, many are named after what they look like \u2013 <strong>Skull Rock<\/strong>, where we stopped to hike<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/skull-rock-e1362866234142.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1523 alignright\" title=\"Skull Rock\" alt=\"skull rock\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/skull-rock-e1362866234142-225x300.jpeg\" width=\"135\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/skull-rock-e1362866234142-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/skull-rock-e1362866234142.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 135px) 100vw, 135px\" \/><\/a>and have lunch, is a good example. The rock formation in the photo below didn\u2019t have a name that we knew about, so we made up one: <strong>\u2018Four Frogs Fornicating\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 if you look at it long enough and from just the right angle maybe you\u2019ll see it, but probably not.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think our name will make it into the <strong>National Park Registry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The road through the park has a good number of pullouts and informational plaques that help explain what lies in front of you, like a beautiful Joshua Trees forest, or a row of those pretty, but prickly <strong>cholla cactus<\/strong> or just a collection of interestingly-shaped rocks, many of them with rock climbers on them.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u2018Dr. Chuck Wagon\u2019 wasn\u2019t getting in until the next morning, after we got to our campsite and pitched our tent, we decided to go into town for dinner.\u00a0 Town, in this case was <strong>Yucca Valley<\/strong>, although we could have opted for the bustling burg of <strong>Twentynine Palms<\/strong>.\u00a0 We were told about a place just out of Yucca Valley called <strong>\u2018Pioneertown\u2019<\/strong>, where a movie set of a western town was built in the 40&#8217;s and a number of\u00a0western movie and tv series were shot there staring the likes of\u00a0<strong>Roy Rogers, Gene Autry<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0<strong>Cisco Kid<\/strong> to name a few.\u00a0 We had dinner at an old western saloon there called\u00a0<strong>Pappy &amp; Harriet\u2019s<\/strong>. \u00a0OK, we weren&#8217;t exactly \u2018roughing\u2019 it, but we did drive back to the park after dinner and retire to our tent for the night.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1524\" style=\"width: 145px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/FFF-e1362866853261.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1524\" class=\" wp-image-1524 \" alt=\"Four Frogs Fornicating\" src=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/FFF-e1362866853261-225x300.jpeg\" width=\"135\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/FFF-e1362866853261-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/FFF-e1362866853261.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 135px) 100vw, 135px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1524\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Four Frogs Fornicating<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Coming on Wednesday \u2013 Part II\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Treks to the Lost Horse Mind, Keys View and the Hall of Horrors<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Bob Sparrow It was all I could do to make a left turn when traveling southeast on Interstate 10 through the Mojave Desert.\u00a0 The usual right turn takes me into the Palm Spring\/Palm Desert communities where for years I\u2019ve &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=1506\">read more<span class=\"meta-nav\"><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[813],"tags":[923,913,915,916,470,800,540,925,921,922,917,914,918,924,920,919],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-gene-autry","tag-joshua-tree-national-park","tag-lost-palm-oasis","tag-mastodon-peak","tag-mojave-desert","tag-palm-desert","tag-palm-springs","tag-pappy-harriets","tag-pioneertown","tag-roy-rogers","tag-saltan-sea","tag-san-andreas-fault","tag-skull-rock","tag-the-cisco-kid","tag-twentynine-palms","tag-yucca-valley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/cholla-cactus.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-oi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1533,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions\/1533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}