JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK - A truley unique Desert

Geni and I got a late start Monday and headed to Joshua Tree National Park. What a beautiful morning to travel, 70's and Sunny but just about everyday is 70's and sunny! Joshua Tree National park lies 123 miles south of us here on the Parker strip, we got there a little late 12;30 and really did not have enough time to fully experience this outstanding National park that lies half in the Sonoran desert and the Mojave desert.  It was 123 miles of driving in complete desert, in the middle of NOWHERE! I plan to come back at a later time to camp and further explore this park. We spoke with the ranger and she told us that visits to this park are at a all time high, with over 3 million visitors last year, so much in so that they had to open the gates last summer and told people to just drive thru because there was nowhere to park!

LINK TO PARK: https://www.desertusa.com/jtree/jtmain.html


                                                    

Joshua Trees fill the desert landscape

Geni and I also toured the Desert Queen Ranch inside the Park. What a story that is, Bill Keys the owner of this ranch lived there from 1917 to his death in 1969! He raised a family and mined the area till his death. If I could do 10% of the accomplishments of Bill Keys I would be a happy man! Please read his story here: https://www.desertusa.com/desert-people/bill-keys.html

Desert Queen Ranch

He owned a mine and also processed the gold from it

He was a pack rat also

Wind mill that supplied water to ranch

Joshua Tree is a rock climbers paradise

We did have time to take a one mile loop hike in Hidden Canyon