After exploring the dunes, we decided to go see some of the rest of the highlights of the park. So, we traveled through the Kelso Depot area and went up to the Joshua Tree Forest in the NE part of the park. It turns out that the largest stand of Joshua Trees in North America is actually in Mojave National Preserve. Maybe the name was already taken by the actual Joshua Tree National Park south of here. But,as the picture shows, not only was the number of Joshua Trees large, but the plants themselves were quite large. There were also many amazing rocks to climb and explore. Most of them were large (huge) granite monolithic boulders barely emerging from the ground. Some were almost a hundred feet long though most were not over ten feet tall. There were also a few outcroppings that allowed for some fantastic vistas off in the distance. After a leisurely stroll through the Joshua Trees we drove back around through the Kelso Depot and to a euphemistically designated 'unimproved' road. Forty five minutes and 4 miles later, we emerged, kidneys fairly tenderized by the washboard road into a basalt landscape of hills and valleys that was with the exception of the types of plants, much like some of the Hawaii lava fields Diana said. Nevertheless, there was vibrant life among the desolation with a variety of creosote, cactus and some small shrubs. Our destination at the end of the shock rattling road was an intact lava tube that visitors could climb into. Though the Park does not actively maintain the tube, it had recently upgraded the ladder entry instead of a rickety wooden ladder. The tube was not very long, 75-100', but it was fairly tall with the exception of one tight spot. There were one small and one larger openings in the ceiling that let light in from above. Since we were alone in the tube and given the road conditions did not expect anyone to show up in the immediate future, we (that would be me, Flint) decided to toss some of the very fine dry dust on the floor up into the air so that the light beams would be highlighted. From the picture it is readily apparent. It was a sort of Indian Jones moment, though we did not find any traps or golden idols. Bummer. So, after some more lava exploring, we re-traversed the washboard alleyway back to our dune side camp. The next post will detail our adventures in Hole in the Wall on the far East side of the park an hour or so away from camp.
