Sunday, March 5, 2006
Jumbo Rocks CG, Joshua Tree NP, CA - Mar 1-5
Joshua Tree NP, as the name suggests, was set aside to preserve these weirdly-shaped plants. Ironically, only about 40% of the park has Joshua trees, and most of the better stands are north of the park. Every bit as fascinating are the great piles of boulders that cover much of the terrain. Jumbo Rocks CG sits among one of these expanses of boulders, caused by granite intrusions that have been exposed after millions of years of erosion.
Everyone we talked to said that Jumbo Rocks was the best CG in the park for RVs. We found Jumbo Rocks to be very attractive, but rather tight for an RV. Many of the RV sites are little more than a wide spot in the road. With one of our slide-outs projecting close to the traffic flow, we placed a reflective triangle at the start of our site to alert drivers. Because of its proximity to large cities, Joshua Tree NP is very much a weekend park. Jumbo Rocks filled with campers over the weekend, many who ignored the restrictions on number of people per site and the 10 mph speed limits.
On Sunday we drove into Riverside to go on a whale-watching trip with Doug's daughter Erin and her husband Bryan. Although we didn't see any whales, we saw hundreds of porpoises, many sea lions, a sea turtle, numerous bald eagles, and a large sunfish called a mola. 
We also saw two life birds -- Surf scoter and Western gull. And, of course, it was delightful being able to spend all day with Erin. On other days we went on ranger talks, hiked the park, or drove out of the park for errands. Of the 3 communities north of the park, 29 Palms is the largest and least commercial. It has museums, galleries, and 20 murals around town. 
We also looked up Karina, a friend of a friend of ours. She had recently moved to 29 Palms to work for the Desert Institute, which offers field classes sponsored by Joshua Tree NP. She was young (mid-20s), intelligent, and full of life. 
We enjoyed a full day of hiking with her where she showed us petroglyphs that had been painted to enhance their visibility by a Disney film crew, and a little-known pictograph and offering hole believed to be an equinox marker, after which she cooked us a yummy dinner in her "Desert Bungalow". We drank tea from pottery mugs that she had made, and dinner was eaten on her pottery plates -- talented too!!With all those boulders piled around, Joshua Tree NP is a winter Mecca for rock-climbers. There are over 8000 named climbs within the park. Climbers inject a certain negative energy into the park -- asocial and anti-establishment, they forced the park to start registering and charging campers a couple of years ago when they were swapping vehicles, tents, and IDs to circumvent the 14-day camping limit.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:08 PM 
