California Desert

We left the Sonoran Desert of Arizona for the Mojave Desert of California. We figured that most of the desert Southwest was similar before spending any time there. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Sonoran Desert was full of life and full of green. The Mojave Desert, on the other hand, is a more traditional desert’s desert. There are areas of the Mojave that appear completely barren of life or anything outside of dirt, sand, and rock. Then there are areas full of interesting life like the Joshua Trees. We saw a little bit of everything the Mojave Desert has to offer when we visited Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks in California.

Joshua Tree

The Joshua tree looks like a cross between a palm tree, a cactus, and a Doctor Seuss illustration. They are beautiful in a strange and odd sort of way. That is the best way that I can describe the park they are the namesake of as well – beautiful and strange. Joshua Tree National Park has a unique landscape with large boulders and rock formations sharing the desert with interesting cacti and trees like the cholla, yucca, and Joshua tree. It is a beautiful place.

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Spending time in the park feels spiritual. The Joshua tree was named by Mormon settlers who thought the tree looked like Joshua raising his hands to the sky while praying. Very fitting. This feeling was magnified by the fact that there was no cell service or WiFi to be found in the park. We camped among the large granite boulders of Jumbo Rocks while in Joshua Tree. The campground was spread out with no electric or water hookups. The nearest water was more than ten miles away. We have no idea where the nearest sewage dump station was. We loved our quiet week in the desert without showers or electronics – perfect for some good old fashioned family time.

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If you were to ask the kids what their favorite part of Joshua Tree National Park was, they would quickly answer, “The rocks!”. The granite boulders of Jumbo Rocks and the surrounding area provided hours of fun scrambling and bouldering for the kids (and adults). The kids begged to do their homeschooling on top of the rocks every day. Trails that started in our campground led to features such as Skull Rock, Face Rock and Split Rock. We had a great time hiking to them and those trails provided for some great trail running. We also enjoyed hiking up Ryan Mountain and up another mountain to an old abandoned mine while there.

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Wildlife seems scarce in the desert but we did see some small critters like the kangaroo rat. Archer had the best sighting of the week on our hike to Face Rock though. She was leading the way, running down the trail, when she turned around and said in a scared, quiet voice, “There is a coyote up there.” We didn’t believe her at first until we turned the corner to also see it standing its ground in the middle of the trail. It eventually climbed beneath a rock, presumably into its burrow. We tried to convince Archer that it was more scared of us than we were of it but she was not hearing it.

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We also met new friends while camping at Jumbo Rocks. One day, when I got back from running, a woman walking with her kids asked me if we had posted something on Instagram about Joshua Tree. I said, “Probably?” It turns out that they are traveling full time in an Airstream as well. They had the same model Airstream as we did and also had two kids Smith’s and Archer’s age. We had a great time hanging out with them by the fire a few nights later comparing notes on our travels and what it is like living full time in an Airstream with kids. They love it as much as we do.

As much as we loved Joshua Tree National Park, our water tank was empty and waste tanks full, so it was time to move on to another location. We weren’t exactly headed to civilization yet though. We hitched up and drove to Death Valley National Park next. It was a long drive full of wide, open space. We are not used to seeing signs warning that there was no gas available (or anything, quite frankly) for the next 100 miles. We made it and even enjoyed having the roads mostly to ourselves the entire day.

Death Valley

With areas like Dante’s View, Devil’s Golf Course, and Hell’s Gate, who wouldn’t want to visit a place called Death Valley? Death Valley holds the claim to fame of being the hottest place on earth. A temperature of 134 degrees was recorded there back in 1913. That heat and the barren landscape may have helped Death Valley earn its name, but Hell or death is not the first thing that came to my mind as we visited there. The only word that I can use to try to capture to essence of Death Valley National Park is “epic”. 

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Death Valley National Park is huge in so many ways. It is the largest national park in the lower 48 states at 3.4 million acres. That is bigger than a couple states. It is home to the lowest point in the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level. Telescope Peak, at 11,043 feet, towers above Badwater Basin. You don’t see that kind of vertical rise every day. The vastness of the view over the valley while standing on the surrounding mountains rival that of the Grand Canyon. It is truly an epic place.

Death Valley is home to some incredibly diverse scenery. Most of it is desert scenery, but it is desert scenery unlike any you will likely see anywhere else. We hiked out to the salt flats of Badwater Basin and stood on salt and glistening water from the previous week’s rain. A few miles away, the salt-encrusted mud of Devil’s Golf Course created a jagged landscape that was at once beautiful and forbidding. We saw areas in the desert that were completely dry but created mirages so vivid that they even reflected the mountains above like a mirror. The enormous Ubehebe Crater reminded us of just how powerful volcanic forces can be. The views from the mountains at places like Dante’s View and of the huge night sky reminded us of just how small we are.

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The scenery at Death Valley is so inspiring that numerous movies have been filmed there. One of my favorites (as well as Smith’s) is “Star Wars”. Death Valley provided the backdrop for Tatooine. We had a great time one day cobbling together some costumes from whatever we could find in our trailers to dress up as Star Wars characters and hang out on Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes where part of “A New Hope” was filmed. Naturally, I was Chewbacca as my beard and hairy chest already had me 90% of the way there.

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Death Valley is also home to some great hiking. There are great canyon hikes like the ones we did at Mosaic Canyon, Golden Canyon, and Natural Bridge. We also enjoyed hiking in an area known as the Badlands of Death Valley. There are so many more hikes and miles of backcountry to explore in Death Valley, that it is worth coming back to to explore further. With 3.5 million acres of park, there is a whole lot to see.

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One of the best parts of Death Valley was getting to spend time together with family. We were still traveling with the Prices when we got to Death Valley; and, my little brother, Keith, flew in from Virginia to visit us there as well. It was great for us all to spend time with him exploring the park. I got to spend time with my brother and the kids got to spend time with their uncle. The Price family is headed south as we head north after Death Valley. We will see them again but I know the kids will miss getting to spend so much quality time with their cousin, as I know I will.

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Hibernation for the Airstream

Death Valley was the last stop on the first phase of our trip. After Death Valley, we made our way to Las Vegas to put the Silver Baguette into storage for the winter. From there, our plans are to head north to Montana to spend about ten weeks in Whitefish, Montana in order to experience life in a small ski town. We plan to stop in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana on the way there to check out Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, and Big Sky. Shuffling everything we need for the winter between the Airstream and the truck was an exercise in patience, planning, and Tetris. You know you brought too much stuff when you figure out your F-250 is too small to fit it all.

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While we are sad to leave the Airstream behind, we are looking forward to the next phase of our adventure. Before we know it, it will be spring and we’ll be back in Vegas to pick the Airstream back up and continue our journey up the west coast. Until then, we are looking forward to some good old fashioned mountain winter and a whole lot of skiing. My goal is to have Jamie and the kids become kick-ass skiers this winter. I think we have a plan to make that happen.