Tom's National Park Adventure

Good morning Joshua Tree!!!!!!!

Today is a big day for one of my daughters. It is Shannon’s Birthday today!

Today was also the day that Liam, my Grandnephew came over from Los Angeles. We were together all day today. He will be spending the night on a cot in my Clam shelter.

Liam got here around 10:00am. We got him all situated and then jumped in the car to go exploring.

The first place we drove to was…… Skull Rock

Then we went down the trail to Jumbo Rocks. Lots and lots of big rocks!

The large piles of large rocks came bursting through the earths crust a very, very long time ago due to volcanic activity – Magma! This type of rock is called monzogranite. When it rose up, it cooled and crystallized. That’s when all the vertical and horizontal cracked came about. Then over a very long time erosion takes its toll and causes the sharp edges to disappear and leaves very big piles of rocks that look like a child’s set of blocks!

Next we drove to Keys View. This is the highest elevation in the park, it sits at 5,185 feet. The views there are spectacular. You can see many landmarks including Palm Springs. The valley it overlooks is called the Coachella Valley.

We drove to the Hidden Valley trail. This is an area where outlaws used to hide cattle they had misappropriated. There is only one way in and out of the area. Back in the day, there were many people raising cattle in this area. Unfortunately for them, the climate changed and water became very scarce. So scarce that the grasslands that once supported the raising of cattle disappeared and the desert is what remains.

By this time of day……. The temperature was escalating so we chose to drive back to Twentynine Palms and had a late lunch in the AC.