Mr Poopers Day Out

Matt and I took Friday of last week off and headed to Joshua Tree National Park here in California. I had no prior experience with the high desert before (being a Minnesotan and all) so I was pretty excited. Matt and I are campers. One of the things that brought us together in the first place was our love of nature and how important it is to protect it and experience it before we as a race, destroy it all.  

On the way there we passed the great Wind power generators. The wind flows so rapidly and regularly through this canyon that there is a great wind farm here. Wind turbines as far as the eye can see. We as a country need to get our butt’s in gear a little bit more and develop this kind of power a little more readily.  Wind will never be depleted and never needs to be replaced.  These are things that really come to mind when you are deep in the heart of some untouched lands.

These are just HUGE! And the possibilities with these machines are endless.

Things in the desert sure know how to protect themselves!

Joshua Tree National Park is famous not only for it’s fona but also the huge rock formations. It’s quite a popular spot for rock climbers. The boulders are a very course granite & grip quite well even for non-climbers as Matt and I found out. Scrabbling over rocks is quite fun, but there is a point where you get high enough & know to stop.

Matt takes in the view from a higher perch.

It wasn’t as hard to get up the back of the rock as it looks, but it’s still really high up.

Much Climbing around was done. Though I have to admit that I’m much more of a wuss than he was about it.  Though we were not as stupid as people we watched climbing around after dark with flashlights & no gear. That is just ridiculous!

Much hiking and poking about was done and enjoyed. Joshua Tree has just enough to see in a single weekend. The weather was beautiful, middle 70’s during the day and middle 50’s at night. Just beautiful & SUNNY!  I don’t know how people camp here in the summer. This is the real desert people!  Something in my blood, where it still deep down craves some snow, recoils at the thought of actually living in a place like this. But people did, and do.

I don’t think you could ever get over this view.

For some reason my legs look really short in this picture!

The desert was in full bloom and so were my allergies. Funny that a Minnesota chic with family all from Finland I would be allergic to the desert. Even through stinging eyes and runny noses it was still worth all the effort to hike the trails and enjoy everything I could.

And Because I always seem to see the craziest things (actually Matt first spotted this, way to go Matt!)

World Famous no less.