JANUARY - MARCH 2014

THE SLABS, ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO and TEXAS

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TRAVELOGUE #9

March 4 - March 8, 2014 - AZ: The Grand Canyon and CA: Joshua Tree National Park

Nothing is as spectacular as the Grand Canyon! We headed north from the Wupatki Monument and arrived first at the Little Colorado River Gorge, on the Navajo Indian Reservation. It was very impressive, but just a teaser. We entered the Grand Canyon NP from the east and stopped first at the old stone watchtower at Desert View. As I drove along the South Rim of the canyon heading west, the late afternoon lighting on the canyon was amazing.

We stayed at the Mather campground near GC Village. The sky was clear and there was only a sliver of moon, so the stars were magnificent. There are a lot of places where you can't take a dog, so we alternated between walks on the rim where dogs were allowed, and me taking the shuttle bus into areas where dogs (and cars) weren't allowed. I took the shuttle to Yaki Point and also to the west end of the South Rim. Not the best place for Sunna, but one of the most spectacular places in the world. Hope you enjoy the photos!

It brought back memories of the times I've been there before: in November 1971 with Virginia on the way from Michigan to L.A., when we drove on fresh snow along the south rim - just us and the deer; in 1978 when my mother took us all on a week-long raft trip down the Colorado (amazing from the river!) to celebrate her 70th birthday; in 2001 or so when Kelley and I visited on our trip from Montana, thru Yellowstone, Grant Tetons, Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon. Wonderful memories!

After the Grand Canyon, we drove south to Williams and stayed at a campground that was part of the Grand Canyon Railroad complex, including the use of a nice swimming pool in their hotel. We spent several nights there before heading south/west again. We ended up driving through Quartzsite AZ again - only this time there were not so many RVs camped everywhere around the town. We camped on free BLM land and there were only a few other RV's out there. I drove back down the road where the LOWS had been camped and there were only a few scattered individual rigs, instead of the hundreds/thousands that were there in January. By March, people are leaving the desert before it gets too hot!

Joshua Tree National Park was a completely different place - we drove into it from the south, through some very sparse desert, then on into the high country with its amazing and weird jumbled rock formations. I saw many young people with climbing gear and crash pads, so it's obviously a very popular climbing place. I had planned to camp in JTNP, but it was Saturday and all the campgrounds were full. So we took our time driving through it, took a hike, and ended up in Yucca Valley, north of the park.

Next travelogue will be the last one and will take us up the California and Oregon coast and home.

The Little Colorado River Gorge. Stunning even if not so colorful as the Grand Canyon.

Lovely flowing plant on the rim where the Navajo had booths for wares. Not very busy in March.

Little Colorado River Gorge. I've always been fascinated that the land is essentially flat with the canyons cutting through it. You don't know how extensive they are until you get right up to the edge.

 

Desert View Watchtower

 

 

The colors, the vast size of it all, the variation. Wonderful!

A little glarey, looking west into the sun. Notice the river below.

See the watchtower on the right?

 

 

These elk greeted us as we arrived at the campground.

 

This was near the main visitor center, on the path to Mather Point. A sun symbol honoring the many native tribes who have ties here.

No better place to be!

What a trail!

These pictures only begin to capture the variety of colors and the enormous feeling of being in this vast, beautiful, magical place.

 

 

 

 

Every once in a while you could even see the river!

And some rapids (remembering going down them on rafts!)

 

 

It's been a hard day!

Here we see the beginnings of the rock formations typical in Joshua Tree NP.

First signs of spring (remember, this was March 6 or so).

 

 

This is the ocotillo. This is the first time I've seen this cactus with flowers. It's spring.

Our first stop was an interpretive walk with samples of the many desert plants found here.

The Palo Verde.

 

Chuparosa - up close (below)

 

Here's the Ocotillo flower up close (above and below). Notice the thorns!

 

This is what mistletoe looks like up close.

The "Jumping" Cholla cactus - a particularly nasty cactus that "jumps" onto you if you get anywhere near it.

A whole field of them - with warnings to stay on the path. People did.

The was one of the few of these cacti that I saw blooming. But notice all the buds that haven't opened yet. It was still early...

Notice the jumbled rounded rock formations.These are granite formations (called monzogranite), originally as magma, that were fractured as they cooled, helped by water and weather, then rounded by erosion as they uplifted.

One of the many majestic Joshua Trees.

This was called "Jumbo Rock" - but they all looked pretty jumbo to me!

It's still desert - notice how spread out the Joshua Trees are.

Joshua Trees are actually a member of the Yucca family.
They were just starting to bloom, but they hadn't opened all the way yet.