Today was the day of Joshua Trees. Though we started in a beautiful pine forest we eventually descended to the hot desert with Joshua Trees everywhere with large clusters of fruit all over them.
Sherpa and I woke up around 5:30 and I packed up and walked a couple miles into a pine forest and caught up to the three of them at a stream where we filled up our bottles and then moved on. A couple miles later the trail led us to a road crossing where we noticed a can parked oddly and we thought it had wrecked.
When we rounded the corner we saw that it was trail magic! Santa’s Little Helper was there taking time off his hike to do trail magic out of his rental car. He had sodas and snacks and we pigged out for about 15 minutes. Santa’s Little Helper was telling us he got out at Walker Pass and was waiting for the conditions to improve. He also said he would take a siesta every day under a Joshua Tree. Both Sherpa and I were thinking to ourselves , “those trees are so small, how can you siesta under those?”
We were on our way and I spent some time chatting with the Jew Crew from Israel. That made the miles to by quickly and it was nice because the heat was kicking up. After a while Sherpa caught up and we left them under the shade of a large rock.
We hiked a few more miles in the zone and came to Kelso Road where we heard there was a water cache. We all met up and and sure enough the only shade there was a Joshua Tree, where ironically we spent a few hours in the shade.
Sherpa and I were watching a movie when a hiker rolled up with a Mojave Green Rattlesnake in his hand. He said that the snake charged him and he stepped on its head. He was afraid it would bite him so he cut off its head!
I could tell from his tone and my tramily agreed that he was sad and felt he had to do what he did. All in all I am happy he didn’t have a $100,000 medical bill and have to leave the trail. I am sorry that the snake had to die but the outcome was respectable considering the circumstance.
After admiring the Mojave Green we packed up and were on our way. Pretty soon the wind picked up significantly. It was a bit of a grind dealing with such fierce, dry wind.
We arrived at camp pretty early and it seemed at first that our site was out of the wind. After we had spent a few minutes there it was apparent that it just felt sheltered because we had endured such a blustery climb. It turned out to be a very windy spot and it was hard to cook because our stoves kept blowing out.
Tofu and then 2.Toe and Yote showed up and made camp as well. They seemed pretty annoyed with the wind as well. We did our usual heckling of each other and then got into our tents.
Sherpa and I watched the rest of our movie and then switched off our phone and slept like little hiker babies.
The Joshua trees are something I have never seen…oh wait!!! Almost all the pictures are of things I have never seen. You two are doing all the work and I am reaping the rewards. Other than the snake pictures. I could vomit.
love u big
They are really amazing trees! We miss you Dee!