Desert hiking

Backpacking trip in Josha Tree National park with Kelly and Jean

At the home of Keith and Chris. I meant to get more pictures, because it was an absolutely gorgeous midcentury modern home, beautifully decorated, but this is all I got!With Keith at the trailhead


All the horses were spooked by my sun umbrella, and I had to put it down


The Joshua Trees took on the most amazing shapes.


In a lot of places it was very sandy...tough walking!Our first lunch. For lunches, I had Ritz crackers, sausage sticks, peanut butter, and some prunes. Kelly had all kinds of homemade crackers and and home-dried fruit.


We got off track once on this part of the trail, and went about a mile out of our way. Luckily many places that could have been confusing had this kind of marker to make it easier.We saw these holes, all in a row, every often. Don't know what made them, though.


A dead Joshua Tree. It looks like solid wood, but is surprisingly spongy.What little shade their was, came from the Joshua trees. I'm wearing my diy craft foam visor sunhat in this picture.


Joshua tree blossumsLots of beautiful cactuses - I think this was the Mojave Mound cactus.


There were little black lizards scampering across the trail every few minutes, but we only saw this lizard a few times - the Southern Desert Horned Lizard


Our first campsite. Kelly and I didn't bring our rain covers, since we'd be warm enough, and wanted to see the stars.


DinnertimeHappy birthday Jean!


A selfie in the tentThe next morning, we went through the most scenic portion of the hike (which also involved a lot of straight sandy stretches)




I think this was Lomatium Mohavense - Mojave Desert ParsleyKelly got a little worried she was getting too much sun!




Some wildflowers from along the trail.


Day 1 blisters - no surprise, they got worse!


A baby king snake. When larger, they hunt rattlesnakes.Remnants of an old mine along the trail


This rock looked a lot like a butt!And this one - an alien head


Someone made the outline of of a lizard in a washDay 2 campsite


Kelly and Jean, making dinnerHat hair!


Beautiful sunrise the next morning


Desert MallowA lot of areas looked very park-like




Hitching a ride back to the visitor centerBoots that I've never gotten blisters from didn't do so well for me on this hike...