Joshua Tree National Park and Tucson, AZ

we left saturday afternoon in bright sunshine, with bags successfully packed away in the trunk and two bikes strapped to the back of my trunk. as the hours passed, the Golden rolling hills and groves of avocado and other fruit trees turned into rocky, sandy terrain sparsely dotted with joshua trees and drying clumps or desert grass.

we left later than we planned, and after stopping for watermelon and firewood at a roadside store, we made our way into Indian Cove campground at Joshua Tree National Park. We chose a campsite in the dark and laid our sleeping bags right out in the desert. The temperature and breeze left no need for a tent and we crossed our fingers that the baking sun wouldn't wake us at Sunrise. We lit a small fire and roasted tofurky sausages to eat with the rest of our watermelon. E. and J. did some after dark bouldering while i lay on my bag and looked at the incredible and dazzling array of stars, even the tiniest of which were visible in the pitch dark of the desert during a gibbous moon.

In the morning we discovered we had camped behind a large rock,

giant boulders

which blocked us from the sun until about 8 or so, giving us plenty of time to eat breakfast and go for a hike up the bouldery piles of rock rising out of the desert.

giant rock piles

As we walked to the hill of boulders, a rattlesnake announced its alarm and we jumped back, choosing another route. Lizards shot back and forth from grassy clump to grassy clump. We climbed up the boulders, where we saw a Big Horn Sheep (common in the desert) hopping up the boulders like they were grasshoppers. After this short hike, we took off through the desert to reach I-10 to take us through to Tucson, stopping first at Keys View, one of the most beautiful spots in Joshua Tree National Park, and Skull Rock, a naturally formed boulder.

joshua tree

skull mountain

We reached Tucson around sunset

arizona sunset

and had some amazing food at Vegeterranean, in a giant outdoor tent, a monsoon brewing outside and a belly dancer in the middle of the room. We turned in early that night, exhausted from our two day trek to Tucson.

Monday morning, we woke up and headed to Coronado National Forest, about twenty minutes outside of Tucson. We stopped here and there as we drove up the 9,174 feet to the top of Mt. Lemmon. Windy Points Vista was one of the most beautiful spots, fully revealing the amazing dynamic nature of the Arizona desert mountains.

windy points vista

. The higher we got the cooler and greener the wilderness became. We ended our trip with a hike down the Meadow Trail atop Mt. Lemmon where we saw giant dandelions

giant dandelion

and a beautiful combination of the rocky terrain of the lower part of the mountains and pines and other thirstier vegetation.

near the top of mt. lemmon

Tuesday, we decided to hike about two and a half miles through the desert canyon on the other side of Mt. Lemmon to the Romero Pools, which are naturally formed pools in a wash about 1,000 feet about sea level. We hiked up steep rocky terrain for two hours and rejoiced when we discovered the pools, which were cool and relatively clear for standing water. There were tiny frogs the size of the top half of my thumb, tadpoles and giant spiders the size of my fist. We ate lunch on the rocks and headed out when we started seeing the telltale dark grey clouds of the typical summer monsoons of southern Arizona. We hightailed it out and sped up as it started to drizzle. As soon as J. warned us about sprained ankles, i stepped too hard on a rock i didn't see and twisted mine!! Luckily it was only strained, and once the initial (really bad) pain subsided, I was able to finish the hike. I'm still icing it and wrapping it with an Ace bandage but i didn't drown in a monsoon :)

Wednesday we relaxed in the morning, then went to check out Bicas, a non-profit collective bike organization founded in the nineties that has tons of parts, bikes and bike rentals. We got some cool info about how their organization works and J and E got some back up stuff for their bikes. That night we went to the Surly Wench on 4th Ave in Tucson, sort of the trendy part of town and drank and played pool. We dumpstered some bread and salads at the co-op next door the went for a long bike ride on the deserted streets of Tucson a couple of miles down one of its busiest streets.

Thursday we parted ways and I made the first leg of my trip to Albuquerque.

I'm writing this from a cheap hotel with half-dead crickets all over the ground and really cool chairs in Holbrook, AZ. Tomorrow I'm headed to Albuquerque, where I'll hang out for a few days with my CouchSurfing host M.

written by

hannahrose on July 10, 2008 from Tucson, United States

from the travel blog: Summer Road Journey 2008

tagged Tucson, JoshuaTree, Coronado and Bicas

Send a Compliment

Hannah, this is amazing! I so wish I was there with you:(
xx cat

written by Cat Perez on July 11, 2008

You know I hate Joshua Tree for the rest of my life, but I can say that the stars at night made me jealous. Glad you're well and enjoying your time. Viva Mexico!!

written by Eb on July 11, 2008

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