Full really does mean Full this week!

Oh, great! I go to Death Valley National Park last week, pay my $20, and this week they’re opening the park up to free admission. In fact, they’re opening all the National Parks up to free admittance. Maybe I’ll NEED to go to Joshua Tree National Park again.

Since it really is my last weekend here I wanted to do something that I’ve been putting off. When Sandi was here we drove over to Palm Springs and drove up to the Palm Springs Tram. We didn’t go up as we hadn’t prepared for the cooler weather at the top of the mountain. Then we drove over to Joshua Tree National Park where even though it is a desert environment it was cold and snowed on us. The huge rocks, seemingly out of place were amazing.

Geologists believe that the rocks now on the surface were molten many years ago. The rocks developed vertical cracks through ground water percolating down. With a combination of tectonic pressure moving the rocks up ward and the natural weathering of erosion through wind and water the rocks are silent sentinels to the naturals processes of nature. I had to see both places again.

The Palm Springs Tramway goes through 5 biomes starting in a desert biome all the way up to an alpine biome. It was 80* at the bottom and 50* at the top. I went prepared with long pants, hoodie, heavy jacket but was overdressed for the temperature at the top. It was a beautiful clear day with end of the season snow at the top. The area reminded me of a number of places; Lassen Park, south end of the GO Road, Hooper Peak. You could really see and feel the coming of spring and the change of seasons. I walked south down a snow-covered mountain meadow away from the people until I ran out of the tracks of previous people and couldn’t hear any visitors. All I could hear were the sounds of silence, the birds calling out to each other and the squirrels arguing with each other. It was one of those quiet and yet excitingly calming experiences.

I drove to Joshua Tree National Monument and saw that upon entering the park there was a sign posted that said ‘All Campgrounds Full.’ I had hoped that since I had arrived about 3:00 PM there may be some sites still available, but such was not the case. Since the park is a relatively small park with only about 25 miles of roads it’s pretty quick to drive through. I stopped at as many informational signs as I could and got out and walked around at both promising and unpromising spots, all beautiful and intriguing. Driving through all the campgrounds I found out that “All Campgrounds Full” really meant it. I guess other people heard about the ‘Free National Park Week’ too. What do you expect when there are about a zillion people living within a 100 miles of here. The last time we were here there weren’t any flowers blooming as it was too cold. This time there were some small cactuses with red flowers were blooming.