Category Archives: Geocaching

Geocaching

May 26, 2014 Brookings, Oregon

Goodbye California, Hello Oregon! After five wonderful months in California we have reached Oregon. In those five months we didn’t begin to scratch the surface of all there is to see and do in California, so we will be back in the fall!

Brookings is a sweet little town of just under 7,000. We entered the town on Memorial Day and Main Street was lined with American flags and POW flags. We just love these patriotic small towns! Due to its relatively mild climate and the fact that it gets more sun than any other Oregon coastal town because of its facing south position, Brookings is often referred to as “The Banana Belt of Oregon”. Flowers bloom here all year and 90% of the country’s Easter lilies are grown here. It is also home to many myrtle trees and coastal redwoods. We found the townspeople here to be among the friendliest we have found in our travels.

While driving around the town we saw a sign for a historical marker. It turns out that Brookings is the site of the only aerial attack on the U.S. mainland by the Japanese during World War 2. Who knew!!! The amazing things we discover, and it didn’t take the quest for a geocache to find this one.

We stayed at Harris Beach State Park which is a beautiful park with views overlooking the Pacific. It is unusual to find state parks with full hookups, but Oregon seems to have many. This is the first state park we have been to that has an old fashioned ice cream truck with the ringing bell that goes around each evening selling ice cream and bagged ice. They also have a “Courtesy Guide” posted throughout the park. The rangers have nightly programs on whales, seals and sea lions, medicinal plants, and tsunamis. We learned that the Oregon coast is just beginning to get large amounts of debris from the 2011 earthquake in Japan. They have set up large containers along some beaches and are asking people to pick up any debris they see and place it in the containers. The ranger said that there was some damage in Brookings from the tsunamis in 2011, with nearby Crescent City, California receiving the most damage because the harbor there is more shallow.

We have been stunned by the unspoiled beauty of the Oregon coast.

One day we took a drive along the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor which parallels the Oregon Coast Trail, a 362 mile hiking trail along the entire coast of Oregon. We stopped at several scenic overlooks, some of which took us off the highway and onto small roads.

We took several hiking trails to find geocaches and look at the shoreline, including Arch Rock

Arch Rock

Natural Bridges

and Natural Bridges.

On one geocache hike we saw a small waterfall far in the distance.

As our week in Brookings was coming to an end we realized we had not spent enough time hiking in the state park where we were staying. We hiked up a very steep hill where we found a geocache and magnificent views.

On our way back to our campsite we found a little squirrel scampering around with part of a paper plate in his mouth, stopping now and then to nibble the plate. I am sure his digestive system is not going to like this lunch!

I hope to name a few facts about Oregon with each post. Here are a few for this one:

1. All Oregon gas stations are required to pump the gas for you. There are no self service gas stations in Oregon. (We might add that the gas is about fifty cents cheaper in Oregon than California so far!)

2. Oregon contains more than 230 state parks and 13 national forests.

3. Oregon has no sales tax.

4. Oregon’s motto is “Oregon is for Dreamers”.

Just a Thought: “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”.

May 21, 2014 Trinidad and Crescent City, California

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It was a very short drive to Trinidad, another stop on our way north as we wait for the weather to continue to warm up. Trinidad is a quaint seaside city with a population of 367, making it one of California’s smallest incorporated cities. No Walmart or McDonald’s here!! Trinidad is known for its spectacular coastline which is part of the California Coastal National Monument. The main economy here as you would guess is fishing.

Our campground was called “Sounds of the Seas” and it was appropriately named since we could hear seals barking most of the time and could see them swimming around in the cove three hundred feet below us. We awoke each morning to the sound of their barking, yet the noise was not annoying or offensive but added to the ambience of the area.

Our first day there we decided to take a drive to the Redwood National Park and along the way we came across a herd of elk lounging in a meadow. We were able to get close and get some good pictures. We laughed to think we hiked four miles to catch a glimpse of elk at Point Reyes National Seashore and yet we just stumbled across them out of the blue. When we drove back home they were had moved about two miles down the road to another meadow. We could see why them had “Elk Crossing” warning signs everywhere!

The next day we drove further north to Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The dirt road down to the beach and canyon was a lovely drive but narrow with many potholes. We occasionally had to stop and pull over to the side of the road to let a car pass going in the other direction.

When we reached the parking area at the end of the road we noticed some people looking up into a wooded area. We joined them and enjoyed watching a male elk having his lunch.

Fern Canyon was a lush canyon filled with ferns. We had to cross several streams where the park service had put boards over the creek so we could walk across. We were thankful for the boards and enjoyed the serenity and beauty of the canyon.

On the way back down the road we came across a herd of male elk and then later a herd of females. Notice that in one picture the elk has two birds riding on his back. We were told by the ranger that at this time of year the male and females separate from each other since the females are preparing to have their calves.

Our time in Trinidad went by quickly and before we knew it the time had come to head to Crescent City, our last destination in California. It was a short drive to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, a beautiful park where we were able to camp in the middle of the redwoods. We dry camped here and we were so deep in the forest that we were not able to use our solar panels or get satellite tv reception. Jedediah Smith was a trailblazer and one of the first white men to reach California by land from the east.

A sign warning of bears greeted us at the registration booth and Bill had to sign a paper saying he read the rules regarding proper food storage and would follow their rules. They were not kidding when they said bears roam the campgrounds looking for food since each campsite was provided a metal food storage locker and a picnic table with a paper taped to it warning about leaving food out.

We spent our time in the Crescent City area hiking and geocaching in the beautiful park. We both agreed that the redwood trees are a little more fabulous in Redcrest along the Avenue of the Giants since they seem to be larger in height and especially diameter. But it is always amazing to be among the redwoods.

We were about 130 miles north of Redcrest and we noticed the forest seemed to be more damp with lots of moss covering the trails and trees. The forests were certainly dense and it would not have surprised me to see a bear of mountain lion, but we saw neither. We were told this area of California receives about one hundred inches of rain a year.

One of our geocaches led us to a beautiful covered bridge built in the 1960’s and made of curved and laminated wood. The process used is more often done in boat building. The roof, walls and floor were constructed as if it was a wooden boat.

After five months, it is hard to believe our time in California has come to an end, for now. We are excited about reaching Oregon, but we love California and will return in the fall.

May 18, 2014 Eureka, California

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We left Redcrest and made the short and easy drive north on Highway 101 to Eureka. Now that we are no longer on California Highway 1, the road is much better! We arrived at the Fairgrounds in Eureka which was a full hookup very reasonably priced campground.

Eureka has a population of around 27,000. It has a rich history mainly based on the California Gold Rush mid to late 1800’s. As thousands of people poured into the area in search of gold, their need for housing and the numerous redwood forests in the area provided a prosperous economy for northern California. Lumber was manufactured and shipped from the region so the area became rich through lumber and shipping. Many people in Eureka became wealthy which can be seen in the many large Victorian style homes. There is a walking tour of all the historic homes in the area known as Old Town. Two such homes are the William Carson Mansion and the “Pink Lady”. The Carson Mansion, owned by William Carson who was the owner of a prosperous lumber company, is one of the most photographed and written about homes in California. It was sold in 1950 to the Ingomar Club which is a men’s club by invitation only.

The Pink Lady located across the street from the Carson Mansion, was built in 1889 by William Carson as a wedding gift to his son.

As you may have guessed, Eureka received its name from the Greek word “Eureka” which means “I have found it” and was first used by the Greek mathematician Archimedes. The gold rushers would say when they discovered gold and the name stuck for the town.

Eureka is also a very artsy town and home to hundreds of artists and we found a self guided walking tour of twenty murals painted on buildings throughout the town. Here are a couple of our favorite which includes this mural, a tribute to architecture and the performing arts which is located on the side of a bank. The mural measures 70 feet by 70 feet and is one of the largest murals in northern California.

The other is titled “Nature’s Bounty” and is made up of six 20 foot panels.

We stayed here three nights and originally selected it because it was on our route north. We were certainly glad we did since it turned out to be a charming, historical town. We were even able to do some shopping at Walmart and Safeway, eat a couple meals out, grab some geocaches and Bill even managed to get a haircut.

May 11, 2014 Redcrest, California (Avenue of the Redwood Giants)

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We reluctantly left the beauty of tiny Westport-Union State Beach Park and our magnificent ocean views (one interesting fact the host of this beach park told us is that this area is known as the “Blood Triangle” because more shark attacks happen in this part of CA than anywhere else in the world except Australia) and headed up California Highway 1. I have talked in previous posts about what a difficult road this is to drive on, but the drive from here to Redcrest was the last twenty-five miles of CA 1 and the worst of the worst with 10 MPH horseshoe curves and narrow roads with no shoulders or guardrails and sheer drop-offs. We turned away from the coast and the road became more mountainous and curvy. We finally reached the end of CA 1 and began driving on U.S. Highway 101. We drove almost the entire CA 1 north from San Diego which had been on our bucket list. We are glad we did because the beauty of the California coastline is unlike anything anywhere else. I think I will see those curves and drop-offs in my sleep for awhile.

At the junction of CA 1 and 101 we saw a sign for a drive-thru tree and since it was only a quarter mile away we decided to check it out. For the admission of $5.00 you get to drive your car through a redwood tree. These large and tall trees are the “Coastal Redwoods”. What a tourist trap and we didn’t even waste time in the gift shop. One of those glad we did it but once is enough experiences. There are two more such trees in this area but we will skip those. As we drove into Redcrest on 101 we saw many little gift shops and tourist attractions all taking advantage of the popularity of the beautiful redwoods in this area of California. We have traded the beauty of the Pacific coast for the magnificence of the redwoods. Away from the coast the temperature has gone up about fifteen to twenty degrees and everywhere we saw forests and redwoods. Beautiful!

We arrived in our campground in Redcrest on the Avenue of the Giants. Redcrest is another small town with a population of 112 and relies heavily on tourism. We had good cell phone service in the main area of Redcrest but not in the campground.

Our first full day there we drove to Shelter Cove which was about a ninety minute drive from our campground. It had been recommended by a campground neighbor and some tourist brochures. I guess we have been spoiled by the beauty of the Pacific coastline because a long drive over very winding and curvy roads which climbed and then descended over 2,200 feet, we arrived at Shelter Cove and were disappointed by the lack of views and beach there. It certainly did not begin to compare to what we had seen in our previous travels up CA 1. We did see a lighthouse there which at one time was further up the coast at Cape Mendocino. The lighthouse was built in 1868 and lighthouse keepers had to take a small tender boat out to the lighthouse. Due to the isolation this lighthouse was not a favorite of lighthouse keepers and it seems that men who did not follow orders or needed to be disciplined were sent to this lighthouse. In 1948 the lighthouse was dismantled and moved into storage. In 1999 it was moved and restored to Shelter Cove.

Before leaving Shelter Cove we did manage to find one geocache and saw some deer up close.

The weather certainly warmed up with temperatures in the upper eighties and low nineties for several days. This was quite a shock after the cool temperatures we experienced along the coast! Avenue of the Giants is a thirty-mile 2-lane scenic drive on what was once U.S. 101 surrounding by 51,222 acres of magnificent redwood groves. It is said to be the greatest display of Coastal Redwoods in the 500 mile redwood belt.

While in Redcrest we spent several days driving along the scenic Avenue of the Giants which is parallel to U.S. 101 and is surrounded by Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The state park, established in 1921 to protect these magnificent trees, is the third largest California state park and includes the Rockefeller Forest which is largest remaining old growth redwood forest in the world. With 53,000 acres, it has many trails to hike and we also found several geocaches.

One trail we walked was the Gould Grove Nature Trail which has the third largest known redwood tree in circumference. We also tried to find a geocache which included a rare albino redwood tree which is one of only a couple dozen known to exist. We didn’t really know what an albino redwood was supposed to look like and couldn’t find anything that we thought resembled one. We stopped by the Visitors Center and asked one of the rangers. He gave us a paper with directions and it seems they rarely give the directions out because people have been known to touch the tree and pull off leaves so they stopped publicizing its existence. We quickly found the tree and it was not what we expected. The needles/leaves of the tree are white instead of green.

The same day we hiked to the Women’s Federation Grove which was founded in the 1930’s by members of the California Federation of Women’s Clubs. Here there are picnic tables made from thirty to forty foot long redwood logs. Today the area can be used for picnics since there are also grills and restrooms. The focal point of the grove is a covered four-sided fireplace

Along the top of each fireplace is an inspirational message. Here are a couple favorites:

On this day we were the only ones there and it was truly peaceful and tranquil with a river flowing alongside.

Later in the day we took another trail which led us first to the “Tall Tree”.

Later we walked to the “Giant Tree”.

This area was also used in the filming of the Stars War movie “Return of the Jedi”. Since the seasonal bridge had not yet been placed for the summer, we had to cross a 20 foot wide stream with water up over our ankles. When we got back to the car we had to wring water out of our socks! But it was well worth it to see the Giant Tree and this beautiful area.

The next day we drove along the Avenue of the Giants to Founders Grove Nature Trail where we saw many amazing redwoods including the Founders Tree and

the Dyerville Giant which fell in 1991. They think it had been standing for as long as 1,600 years and was taller, larger and older than any tree around it. It was 370 feet tall which is two feet taller than Niagara Falls, was seventeen feet in diameter and fifty-two feet in circumference, and weighed over one million pounds. When it fell it registered on the seismograph and the locals said it sounded like a train wreck. What an amazing week we had!

May 8, 2014 Manchester and Fort Bragg, California

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Our three day stay at Manchester was quiet and relaxing. We spent some time working on the blog because it takes time for Bill to sort through all the pictures and decide which ones to include in each posting. He then edits them and all this takes time. I usually do most of the writing of the blog posts and rely on his pictures to refresh my memory. In Manchester our cell phone and internet reception was very poor so we were not able to do much planning or research for future travels.

Manchester, with a population of 462, was similar to Bodega Bay in that it also did not have any franchise restaurants or large stores. We did stop in at the local small country market which did include a tiny Ace Hardware in the back corner.

We spent our last afternoon in Manchester doing some geocaching and continued to find beautiful panoramic views and the Point Arena Lighthouse.

After Manchester our next stop was thirty-five miles north to Fort Bragg. As you can tell we try not to travel far on move days and we are taking our time heading north to give Mother Nature plenty of time to warm up. Our travel day was overcast with just enough rain to keep on the windshield wipers. One thing I have noticed in our travels is so many states have cities with the same name, and Fort Bragg is another example. Fort Bragg, CA was established in the 1850’s as a military outpost to maintain order for the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Today Fort Bragg is no longer a military fort and has a population of around 7,000. One exciting thing about reaching Fort Bragg was there was a Safeway where I did some much needed grocery shopping. Not since our last days in Mexico has the pantry and freezer been so empty!

We dry camped at MacKerricher State Park which is a beautiful park but we had no cell phone service or satellite TV due to heavy tree cover. We quickly set up camp and grab the umbrellas and rain jackets and headed down to the beach to a small cove where the ranger told us some seals had recently given birth. We were expecting to see many seals and we were a little disappointed to see just a few mother seals and pups on the rocks. Since the weather

was cold and windy with showers, we didn’t stay long. I am always in awe of the great shots like these that Bill gets. The camera makes it look like we were much closer to the seals than we really were. The rangers warn people not to go near the seals because they are easily frightened and will desert their pups if frightened away.

The highlight of our stay in Fort Bragg was biking on the paved Ten Mile Coastal Trail. We were able to bike to the trail from our campsite and ride along the coast.

It isn’t often that we get to bike that close to the beautiful Pacific Ocean! This trail was formerly a railroad track which was turned into a logging road and is now a walking/biking trail.

Our last day in Fort Bragg we walked on the beautiful boardwalk in MacKerricher

and came upon a mother seal and her pup just as they climbed out of the water and onto a rock to rest.

We left MacKerricher State Park and drove about twenty miles up the coast to a very small state park, Westport-Union Landing State Beach Park, where we dry camped about two hundred feet from the ocean atop a forty foot cliff. This is basically just a pull off the side of the road and camp where you want, and on this day there were two other campers in the park. It was very windy when we first arrived and a gorgeous day. We had spectacular views of the coastline and beach. On one side we saw the magnificent Pacific and on the other side we saw cattle grazing on the steep hillside. The park did have a campground host and he showed us some nests made by swallows. He said the swallows built this in less than two weeks and they had to do it one mouthful of mud at a time. Isn’t nature amazing!

March 29, 2014 Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Long Beach, California

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During our time in Malibu we spent a couple days exploring areas outside of Malibu. One day we drove to the Santa Monica Pier, passing the Getty Villa on the way. The Santa Monica Pier, built in 1909, was a fun place with somewhat of a carnival atmosphere with roller coasters, ferris wheels, bumper cars, and many vendors. We enjoyed the lively atmosphere with live musicians playing at various places on the pier and walked out to the end to hopefully see dolphins or whales. Just as we were about to give up we saw a sea lion and her cub and even though we stood and watched them for quite awhile, we were never able to get a very good picture as they bobbed up and down in the water, playfully swimming under the pier.

We found the end of the famous Route 66 and also the end of Interstate 10 which runs from Jacksonville, Florida to Santa Monica, California.

On Saturday we drove from Malibu to Long Beach. We stopped at Venice Beach which was as wild and crazy as I had read with many interesting characters walking along the boardwalk as well as plenty of tattoo and massage parlors, a place to buy medicinal marijuana, and many places to buy food and souvenirs. We finally found a place where you could park for an hour so we put a dollar in the meter and walked down the boardwalk. Bill did find a store specializing in Native American items and found two tee shirts to purchase. We found that an hour was plenty enough time for us to explore Venice Beach.

Leaving Venice Beach we followed the Pacific Coast Highway and found some beautiful scenery as we passed through Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and especially in the Palos Verdes area with huge mansions overlooking the ocean. We even grabbed a geocache in the area when stopping at an overlook with a splendid view.

We arrived in Long Beach later in the afternoon and drove pass Long Beach Shipyard where we saw containers stacked 8 containers high. We also saw the Queen Mary from a distance. We will come back at a later time for a tour. We had dinner at Beachwood Barbecue and then walked down the street to a Walmart to pick up a couple items. This was a very urban Walmart with a pay as you park parking garage. We checked out through the self checkout and when we asked where the plastic bags were, we were told we could purchase a paper bags for 10 cents each but they did not use plastic bags. We had read awhile back that California was going this route, but this is the first city we have encountered a plastic bag ban. Since we only had a few items we just carried them out in our hands. I told Bill I have a gold mine at home with all the plastic bags I have accumulated. I usually take my own bags in to the grocery store to keep my frozen items cold, but I guess I will have to start taking my own plastic bags into Walmarts in California from now on! It is California, you know!

Monday we leave to drive further north up the coast. Our next stop will be a state park so no more of these fancy resorts with full hookups and cable tv for awhile. That suits us just fine as we enjoy the more natural setting of national and state parks. We are really enjoying our time in California, in fact we love it. We are continuing to add to our list of possible winter destinations, with Malibu being another on our list. The price of gas is outrageous and the ground has shaken us with some minor earthquakes and aftershocks for several days so we are following the news closely, but the weather and beauty has won us over!

March 14, 2014 Hemet and Castaic, California

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After a week of waiting, the warranty work was completed on the RV in San Diego and after a night at the Del Mar Fairgrounds which is a great place to camp with full hookups, we set off on Friday for Hemet, California. Bill commented that the dry, rocky landscape reminded him of Mexico except that this road was wide with shoulders and even guardrails! As we neared Hemet we noticed snow on the mountaintops in the distance.

We set up camp at beautiful Golden Palms Resort with several swimming pools, hot tubs, a fitness center and a full schedule of activities. This campground has over a thousand sites and about 70% of the sites are occupied with Canadian citizens during the winter months. We finished setting up just in time to attend their wine and cheese happy hour. Life can be so hard sometimes!

Saturday one of Bill’s coworkers from 1982 drove from Lake Elsinore to spend the day with him. They went to lunch and Bob helped Bill work on some connectors for the solar panels cords. It is so nice that they have stayed in touch all these years and had a chance to see each other.

Our week in Hemet flew by and we added it to our ever growing list of possible winter destinations. Next we drove northwest to Castaic where Bill’s cousin George lives. Bill has really been looking forward to seeing George (Aunt Emily’s oldest son) since they haven’t seen each other for several years. We were able to spend an afternoon with George and several of his children and grandchildren. The next day George’s son Jeff and his daughter Riley stopped by the RV to see us. They had been camping for the weekend and missed the get together at George’s house. We spent a short three nights in Castaic and headed to Malibu.

One of the many great things about our travels since beginning this journey nine months ago is being able to see family and friends that we wouldn’t ordinarily get to see.

“Certainly travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

February 1, 2014 San Diego, California Part 3

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We made the short drive from the campground to the Cabrillo National Monument located in Point Loma. To reach park service property we had to drive through a US Navy facility – Point Loma. The views of the bay and Pacific Ocean at the top of the monument were amazing.

The monument is named for Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who in 1542 was the first European to set foot on the west coast. He claimed land for the king of Spain, discovered a route to Asia and the Spice Islands, and searched for gold.

While in the area we logged a couple geocaches, one of which was done by a Boy Scout as part of his Eagle project.

As we passed through the naval grounds we noticed a national cemetery on both sides of the road with views of the bay and Pacific. It took our breath away to see all those headstones and it struck us as being such a beautiful place to be laid to rest.

Before heading back to the campground we stopped by Sunset Cliffs park. The traffic was heavy and parking was hard to come by. Californians love watching sunsets over the Pacific!!

Next stop: Mexico!

January 20, 2014 San Diego, California

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We arrived at our next destination at a Thousand Trails RV park about 20 miles east of San Diego. They did not have a full hookup site available so we were directed to the north side of the campground where we had our choice of several electric and water sites. They have an unusual way of providing full hookup sites, and we discovered that a reservation did not mean you have full hookup upon arriving. If all the full hook up sites are taken, your name goes on a list and the next morning at 8:30 you go back to the ranger station. They write on a board all the site numbers of people who are checking out that day. When your name is called, you get to choose which site you want. We knew we were #9 on the list for the day, and since there were only 7 sites available and many people waiting, we didn’t hold out much hope of getting a site that day. To our surprise, our name was the third name called and we chose a site. We went back and got our RV and moved to our new site. This whole process is called “Crossing Over”.

We very much liked our new site. It was a corner lot so we only had neighbors on one side and across the street. There was an access road near us which was used by the border patrol and it was interesting to see them come and go and we sometimes heard helicopters at a distance flying overhead, but nothing at all annoying. It was actually very quiet during the day and at night, and the only sound we heard was the occasional coyotes howling at night. One day we saw a couple coyotes roaming several feet from our campsite, but they hurried on in their quest for prey. We also found some interesting geocaches around the campground. The only problem we had with this campground is there is no cell phone or internet service with our Verizon phones. They provided free 30 minutes of internet per computer each day, with more available for purchase, but we found it to be very slow, and it still did not solve our cell phone problem. Several times we had to make a call and had to drive several miles toward the nearest town to make a call. We think this problem can be solved with a cell phone booster which we hope to purchase before possibly returning to this campground in the future.

One day we rode over to Coronado Island which is a resort city across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It really isn’t an island, but is instead a peninsula, and to access the city we had to cross a 2 mile bridge. Oh, how I have missed the water of Florida, and San Diego has given me my water fix. Hotel de Coronado is located there and is considered one of the world’s top resorts. The Marilyn Monroe film, “Some Like It Hot” was filmed at this hotel. Frank Baum, author of “The Wizard of Oz”, could see the hotel from the front porch of his home, and some say The Emerald City in the movie was inspired by the hotel. Baum also designed the crown chandeliers in the hotel dining room. Because of this connection with Oz, Coronado is often called “The Emerald City”.

A visit to Coronado wasn’t complete without putting our feet into the cold Pacific Ocean. They had beach advisories that day because of windy conditions, but it didn’t feel that windy to us.

We finished the day with a visit to Imperial Beach where we grabbed the most south westerly located geocache in the continental United States. We could see Mexico in the distance and several helicopters were flying low overhead to patrol this section of the US/MX border. We assume they were border patrol monitoring the border. We have seen a lot of border patrol over the past couple months and it is amazing when you think about the amount of land they have to monitor.

Next stop: San Diego Zoo!

January 10, 2014 Palm Desert, California

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We are truly in awe of the mountains and canyons we are seeing in the desert of California. We left Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and arrived in Palm Desert where we are staying at a Thousand Trails RV Resort. Usually the Thousand Trails parks are located in fairly remote areas, however this one is located right in Palm Desert. We prefer parks that are further away from traffic and road noise, however this park was not too noisy and sometimes it is convenient to be near stores and restaurants.

The highlight of our three nights in Palm Desert was our visit to Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday. Located over an hour from Palm Desert, the park is named for the trees that grow there called Joshua trees. Legend has it that the trees were names in the mid 19th century by Mormon pioneers who named the tree after the prophet Joshua because of the trees outstretched limbs.

Roosevelt designated the park a National Monument in 1936 and it was re-designated a national park in 1994. One interesting thing about the park is that two deserts come together to make Joshua Tree National Park. The Colorado Desert with an abundance of creosote bush makes up the eastern half of the park.

The higher, cooler and wetter Mojave Desert with Joshua trees, make up the western half of the park. We were able to drive through both sections of the park and enjoyed the different landscapes.

We hiked a short trail to Arch Rock where campers had hiked among the rock formations. It was not unusual to see campers boondocking throughout the desert in Arizona and California. The rock formations in the park were amazing and we spent some time watching rock climbers scaling the sides of these mammoth rocks. The park is known for being one of America’s best climbing sites.

We drove to the top of Keys View with an altitude of 5,185 feet. On a clear day you can see to Mexico as well as the Salton Sea, the San Andreas Fault, the San Jacinto Peak behind Palm Springs, as well as the Santa Rosa and San Gorgonia Mountain. The day we visited had some haze from Los Angeles smog, but we still had a breathtaking view. Sadly one of the rangers told us, and we saw a sign at Keys View, that due to poor air quality, the park is one of the unhealthiest places to hike during certain times of the year. We have noticed this smog for several weeks in our travels.

Palm Desert is a beautiful place with ideal winter weather. Another place to add to the return someday list!

Through the Eyes of the Selphs

Bill and Diane's travel notes and pictures

Category Archives: Geocaching

May 26, 2014 Brookings, Oregon

May 21, 2014 Trinidad and Crescent City, California

May 18, 2014 Eureka, California

May 11, 2014 Redcrest, California (Avenue of the Redwood Giants)

May 8, 2014 Manchester and Fort Bragg, California

March 29, 2014 Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Long Beach, California

March 14, 2014 Hemet and Castaic, California

February 1, 2014 San Diego, California Part 3

January 20, 2014 San Diego, California

January 10, 2014 Palm Desert, California