Laguna (Post 3 of 3)

My cousin Laura jamming with cousin Bob:
Family photo:
Cousin Mandy giving some love to Bunny and Llama

Laguna (Post 2 of 3)

Of course, it wasn't long before Dorinna started to ask if she could go for a ride. John obliged:

After that, everyone else wanted to ride as well. Aunt Anne was next:

I took some video of my Mom :


Later in the day, cousin Laura had her turn:

I couldn't let everyone else have all the fun. John took us up to 87 mph. Any hesitation I might have had about hugging another man disappeared well before that point...

Laguna (Post 1 of 3)

Last month, the family traveled to Laguna Hills to say good bye to my Aunt Marge. After the memorial service, friends and family gathered at my Uncle's house. Among the friends were John Zamora, an associate editor for Super Street Bike Magazine, and Tony Sesto, who builds custom motorcycles. Some of his creations are below:

This motorcycle appears on the cover of the latest issue. The blue Japanese tatoo pattern in the paint fades away and the entire bike turns black when it gets colder:

It's all about step 24

Go to Google Maps, click on Get Directions. Enter in the following:
New York, NY
London, UK

Step 24-once you can finish this one, the rest of the trip will be easy.

Found via Rise and Shout

Joshua Tree Epilogue: Water

The thing that made this trip challenging was water. Although we actually found water in Smith Water Canyon, we didn't expect it, and we certainly couldn't plan on it.

This sign is presumably for summertime- we got by with about 1 gallon of water per person per day

This is what 6+ gallons of water looks like- it weighs about 50 pounds.

This is our water supply in the parking lot afterwards- about 1.5 quarts (3 pounds). There was a spare gallon in the car in case we needed it.

Joshua Tree: Day 4 (Post 2 of 2)

The water disappeared twice, coming back each time as we rounded a canyon corner. My theory is that it was related to the rock layers. At one section the canyon got very narrow, and consisted of hard metamorphic rock. My guess is that water percolated through the sand above until it hit this resistant layer, then bubbled to the surface.

Kevin climbing the "Crux Move". This stretch didn't look so difficult two years ago with a day pack.

Kevin in the Narrows

All too soon, we lost the water for good, and the rest of the canyon traverse was across the sandy wash.

Outside the canyon, we joined up with a marked trail again, and followed it through the desert, and up a ridge into juniper-pinyon forest before coming out at our car. Along the way Kevin was startled by a Horned Toad shaking off the sand from its body and running off the trail (my picture is the same as Kevin's, so not shown here). We made it to the car at 11:45-- plenty of time to pick up the other car, enjoy a wonderful shower, and catch our plane back to Colorado.

Joshua Tree: Day 4 (Post 1 of 2)

Our last day in Joshua Tree. Only about 6 miles to the second rental car, most of it off-trail. Unfortunately, we had a timetable- we estimated that we wanted to be at the car by noon to comfortably make our flight out of Palm Springs.

Dawn in Quail Valley

We lifted up what were now very light packs, and headed for Smith Water Canyon. I had hiked this a few years before as a day hike. At the time, heavy rains had filled the canyon with water, but that didn't look likely today.

Kevin enters Smith Water Canyon

Imagine my surprise when I found a hole that had been dug by some thirst animals- in the hole was actual wet mud. The surprises continued as we hiked up the canyon- thick brush, vibrant grasses, then actual puddles of water. Trees, birdsong, running water- it was just an incredibly alive, vibrant oasis of life.

Water!

Quail

Kevin is All Smiles in the Oasis of Smith Water Canyon

Joshua Tree Interlude: Joshua Tree Closeups

Blossoms

New Growth

"Feed me, Seymour"

Joshua Tree: Day 3

The next day dawned hot and cloudless. We got an early start on account of the coyote howl alarm clock, but you can never really start early enough when you're hiking in the desert. Early in the day, we climbed up a jumble of rocks to get some good views back at the Wonderland of Rocks that we were leaving behind- and the road we were approaching.

J-Trees and Rocks

Looking Back at the Wonderland of Rocks

Yes, a road. Our route brought us out to a parking lot filled with screaming kids, car radios, and soda pop. The strong desire to flee was shared between us, and we quickly hiked along the road a short stretch before reaching a picnic area with more people. This was a rude shock after being alone in the desert. Outside of yesterday's day hike and this short stretch near the road, we saw nobody for the rest of our hike.

As we left the picnic area behind, we entered a stretch of open desert, hot, dry, and almost free of trees. The granite of the Wonderland was replaced with lava outcroppings. And the sun just got hotter and hotter...

Lonely Tree in a Hot Desert

We had a very long lunch huddled under the shade of a solitary Joshua Tree. "OK, now we're just stalling," was the rebuke that I used to get us moving again. The unmarked trail slowly dissolved into a collection of washes and stands of long-dead trees. As we passed a small peak, we entered the place, I dubbed "Quail Valley", named after the dry spring on one valley wall. We left the fragments of the trail behind, following animal paths leading in the general direction of a canyon up ahead. At this point, I re-entered tera cognito- I had day hiked here a few years ago. Tired and hot, we dropped our packs and wandered around before finding a good spot to pitch the tent. We didn't bother pitching the tent, rather we pitched our packs on to the ground and slunk into the shade of another Joshua Tree. We hung out there for hours- reading, dozing, moving around the tree to stay in the shade.

It was late afternoon before we dared leave the shade to set up camp and go for a short hike. We climbed to some peaks on the opposite side of the canyon, climbing up into the shade and the wind.

Me atop Peak overlooking the Quail Valley

After the peak, we explored an interesting wash, finding plenty of sheep scat, but no signs of actual sheep. We did, however, disturb a flock of quail at dusk. Another long but rewarding day in the desert.

Sunset in Quail Valley

Joshua Tree Interlude: Barrel Cactus

They don't really fit into the storyline, but I took a number of interesting photos of Barrel Cactus.