Chobuck in Adventureland: Onward to Joshua Tree Natn'l Park

We left Organ Pipe National Monument early Sunday morning and headed up towards the freeway. We fueled up in Why at the WhyNot travel station.

It was a cute place complete with a couple of coyotes hanging around the front looking for handouts, right by the sign that said Please Don't Feed the Coyotes.
We headed north through the pleasant little city of Ajo and onward to Buckeye Az at the junction of interstate 10. An old dear friend has recently moved from Washington state to Buckeye and Denise had been in contact with her. We met up with Marilyn and Ron at the Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch. We picked Cracker Barrel because they reserve parking for RV's in the back and we figured it would be easy in and out. Not this one. It sits in the front of a large shopping mall type area with a sea of blacktop and stores. We did manage to find a relatively empty lot well behind the restaurant and I took up 4 spaces with the trailer hoping that the place didn't fill up. It being Arizona we moved the animals into the trailer as it was cooler than leaving them in the truck.
We had a lovely lunch and did some catching up with Marilyn and swapped stories with Ron who is a very nice guy. It's been around 24 years or so since we last saw Marilyn and it was great to see her again. Retirement is grand!
So after an all to brief lunch and chat we headed back out. Ron and Marilyn had parked next to us so that left us an escape route.
Back on the road and an easy drive on the freeway to California and Joshua Tree.
I guess the deserted campground at Organ Pipe lulled us into forgetting that it was Memorial Day weekend and there are lots of folks out camping and stuff. As we approached Blythe Denise began searching the internet for which campground we would head for. All Campgounds in Joshua Tree are FULL was what we got. I was hoping that there was a cancellation or someone had a family emergency or just decided to go home early. We raced towards the park trying to get there before the office closed. Confusing time zone and time changes. The clock in the truck was on Texas time, Denise's phone wasn't updating, Arizona doesn't use daylight saving time. California is Pacific time. I thought we would get there but when we pulled into the lot at the visitors center it was closed and had been for 1 hour. We did find that there was dispersal camping on BLM land just outside the park entrance so down the pass we again and look for the turnoff for the BLM land.
That was easy to find and although there were RV's and tents scattered here and there we found a fairly flat place to pull into where we didn't have to unhitch. It looked pretty good until shortly after we set up and started cooking supper a huge motor coach pulled up almost next to us and immediately fired up their generator.
I was too tired to care and didn't want to move so we stayed put. They all came out of the coach and sat around the fire at sunset so all was cool.

Sunset at the dispersal area

Cool that is until around 2:00 am when the generator started up again and woke us both up out of a sound sleep. Grr, I cannot understand the rudeness of some people. It was cool enough if you opened your windows, why oh why do you need a generator in the middle of the night?

It was only one night and in the morning we breakfasted and headed up to the Visitor's Center to see about a campground. We got there and were the first in line when they opened up. They hemmed and hawed and said that the checkout time was 12:00 and they really didn't want anyone occupying a site before then even if it was empty cause they might come back and and and. While we were talking to them a couple in line told us they were leaving and the site number 31 was open, they would not be back. So up the hill to the campground we went.

Number 31 did not look like what we wanted to we drove around. The grounds were quickly being evacuated and we found a spot near the bathrooms, nice view and easy to back into. We took it and never did see a ranger up there checking to see if anyone was in a space before 12:00.
Cottonwood campground is dry camping, there is water there but no hookups of RV's we had enough water in the tank for flushing and dishes and we have a couple of jugs to put water into also. They have generator hours so we were able to keep the batteries charged up and run the air conditioner a little during the heat of the day.

By 12:00 the place was mostly empty with the exception of us and maybe one other. Denise laid down for a nap and I took a short walk to check out the area. The south end of the park is in the Colorado Desert which is just kind of an extension of the Sonoran. Here there are no Joshua trees but it is still very beautiful. In this area there were a couple of springs and I was hoping to see Desert Bighorn Sheep.

A half mile or so behind the campground there is a spring with cottonwoods and a couple of eucalyptus trees. I made my way to that and was immersed in the sound of birds singing.

There were a couple of mockingbirds, some doves and a flycatcher or two. Then I caught a flash of color in the Cottonwood and high above me there were 3 Western Tanagers. I had seen one in New Mexico but in never landed near me. Here I climbed up the rocks and tried to get up nearer to treetop level.

A Verdin spotted near the Visitor's Center

An as yet unidentified flycatcher at the spring.

Western Tanager in the Cottonwood by the spring.

Scott's Oriole also in the Cottonwood tree until the Tanagers chased him off.

After Denise got up we took the truck and headed up the road to explore the area north of us towards Twenty nine Palms.

This area is the covered with Cholla's that clearly have seen fire. The bottom half of them are all black. There was no signage to tell us what happened and when so it's a mystery.

The next morning came in with an explosion of pink pastel clouds that blanketed the sky. The trail to Mastodon was calling to me and the cool morning air was ideal for hiking the desert.

Sunrise over Cottonwood Campground

The trail to Mastodon mine winds uphill to the mine location near the top of the mountain. Just the kind of trail I like. Get the climbing part in the beginning while you are fresh and the weather is cool. It was on the side of the mountain where in the morning you get a series of sunrises. Walk for awhile in the shadows of the mountainside, then the sun crests the top spilling sunshine over you. as you turn a corner or climb up behind another cliff the sun disappears back behind the cover of the rock only to reappear again moments later. Jack rabbits and desert cottontails were scurrying around getting fed and making their way back to their burrows. A couple of desert cottontails ran away as I approached but when I looked back after passing the bush they ducked under I saw one sitting there watching me.