Dan and Hannah Hike a Threesome of Trails at Joshua Tree National Park in California

Somehow they left Nowhere off this map

Hannah and I arrive midday at the Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert, literally in the middle of Nowhere, California.  Fired up to explore this national park on our last days as sunbirds in California, we are greeted by snark at the visitor center.   Let me set the stage.

Walking into the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, I approach the counter looking for a hiking recommendation and say to the park ranger, we have never been to Joshua Tree.

Without a smile, she responds, shame on you.  Whoa!  What about, you are in for the time of your life or March is the best time of the year to visit with the cooler temps and the desert life blooming, all with a smile.

But noooooo!   Snark slaps me in the face.  Perhaps, it was a joke?  Ellen DeGeneres says, if it was a joke, we’d both be laughing.  As the founder of Zappos (online shoe seller) believes (and I paraphrase), all successful businesses are, in fact, service businesses.  The product changes, but every successful business is about service.  That goes for the national park service, too.  Hmmmm.  Service is in its name, and yet…!

Staircase to Ryan Mountain which is behind the mountain in the foreground under the bluest of blue skies

Figuring she was having a bad day and ready to live my belief in the Fourth Agreement (Don’t take anything personally.) of Don Miguel Ruiz, I ask, what hiking trails do you recommend?   She mentions a few, and we escape as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, I have our twenty-something friend, Justin Kyker, to thank for his Joshua Tree hiking recommendation – Ryan Mountain.  Rated strenuous, it has a 1000’ of elevation gain to the summit at 5457′ a mile and a half away.

The natural stonework of the trail is magnificently intricate.  Italian stone masons would give up their first born to have their signatures etched into these stones.  At the start, the trail is a glorious natural granite staircase.  As the signature trail of the park, it is happy with people climbing to the distant mountain.

Quickly the switchbacks take us to where the wind is cranking.  Fifteen to 20 mph gets our attention, but our warmth remains as the full sun adds ten degrees to the mid-50s ambient temperature.

Just in front of us, two young couples (thirty-somethings) sense us and make sure they step lively and stay ahead, not wanting to be held up by two seventy-somethings.  Dream on.  We feast on thirty-somethings for lunch on the trail.  Within a half mile, our steady, not-stopping-to-smell-the-roses pace, has them eating our dust.  As we pass, they smile and seem delightful; we have a touch of remorse as we snack on them right here on the trail.

An Ithaca Bomber atop Ryan Mountain

Soon we are behind the first mountain, wondering which distant summit is ours.  At times, the mountain protects us from the powerful winds.  Other times, the winds mess with us, clearly establishing that Mother Nature is the boss of the apple sauce (i.e. a euphemism for absolutely nothing, just a playful rhyme that’s fun to say).

Atop Ryan Mountain beneath blue on blue skies

Climbing to the summit of Ryan Mountain in 45 minutes, we are loving the views in every directon.  Check out the video from high atop Ryan Mountain and note the wind chorus in the background.

 

Once back at the trailhead and wanting to add to our 90 minutes of hiking, we drive to the nearby Barker Dam trailhead.  As a short and sweet mile and a half hike in the desert of Joshua Tree National Park, we have a hike with no elevation gain, ideal for families with small kids.

As we start out, we meet five or six twenty-somethings with rectangular foam pads on their backs.  Any idea why?  See the picture to the right.  For the answer, see just beneath my final image of the Barker Dam trail below.

Constructed by cattlemen, the Barker Dam itself is a gathering place for desert wildlife, including birds and Desert Bighorn Sheep, of which we see not a single one.

In the end, it’s just a helluva sweet walk in the Mojave Desert.  See the images below

Pool/reservoir behind the Barker Dam

The sandy Barker Dam Trail begins

Hannah among the boulders on the Barker Dam Trail

Desert stroll among the Joshua trees

 

The rectangular foam pads are for novice boulder climbers to be used literally as crash pads.

 

Within a stone’s throw of the Barker Dam is the one-mile Hidden Valley Trail.  Rumored to be the one-time home of cattle rustlers, Hidden Valley is an another no elevation gain walk in the desert among massive boulders.  Again, short and sweet, the trail even on this Friday afternoon has a bumper crop of foreign visitors, families, and couples in love.  The “bouldering” public has another golden place to practice their craft.

Check the images from our desert hike at Hidden Valley.

The boulder-y Hidden Valley Trail

Hidden Valley Trail

 

 

If there is one hike to do in the Joshua Tree Middle-of-Nowhere National Park, make it Ryan Mountain.  Our kind of national park!

Dan and Hannah Hike at Joshua Tree National Park in California’s Mojave Desert

Previously in this blog, I have written about small t truths (i.e. one’s personal beliefs) that complement the big T truths (i.e. one’s religious or spiritual beliefs) in our lives.  Click here for that blog.  Today I have another small t gem for your consideration.

Do what you want to do even though it might disappoint another.  And by doing so, you will have a better relationship with that person.

Either you are thinking: (1) Sounds a little me, me, me, Danny Boy or (2) well, duh, of course that is true.  Hold on, let me explain and give you an example.

If you do something you don’t want to do, resentment can rear its ugly head quite easily.  Would you want someone to do something for you that they didn’t want to do?  I wouldn’t.

If you do what you want, the other person has a clearer idea what you like and dislike.  You become more real to them, and they know when you say something you mean it; and you aren’t just being disingenuously polite.

Wayne and Nancy

So, the example.  In the fall, Hannah and I had arranged in early March to meet with our longtime (40+ years) friend Nancy, whose husband Wayne had died recently, in Zion National Park, four hours south of her home in Utah.  (Click here for my eulogy blog for Wayne.)

In the days prior to our planned meeting during the first week of March, the weather forecast for our overnight and hike together in Zion turned nasty – a forecast of snow, morning temps in the teens, and daily highs in the mid-40s were not conducive to hiking or even being outside.

Two cool guys, Dan and Wayne (1991) when the Family Turley came to visit us in Maine

Three days before we were to meet, we offered Nancy the option of postponing our rendezvous in Zion.  Though I bet she wanted to talk with us, two people who knew and loved her husband Wayne dearly, she said the drive through the mountain passes in southern Utah concerned her.  Even though we might be disappointed, she said she’d like to postpone.

Knowing she was doing what she wanted to (re: my small t truth), Hannah and I were pleased for her and for ourselves.

Lake Havasu City is 25 miles north of where route 62 crosses the Colorado River

Once Nancy decided, Hannah and I then chose not to go to Zion either, which opened us to spending an extra day in the sunshine at Joshua Tree National Park and two days of warm in Lake Havasu City, Arizona on the Colorado River.

Nancy opened the door for us to find the good in the change of plans.

After a February in Carpinteria, California (near Santa Barbara), we head east to Joshua Tree National Park, thanks to the recommendation of our California friend Justin Kyker (For those of you keeping score at home, that is Big Steve and Amelia’s kid).  Aided by our pickleball friend Mark’s advice to delay our morning departure so as to avoid the LA metro snarl, we leave at 9A and cruise along the LA freeways and beyond for the 230-mile drive to the Mojave Desert, albeit among more cars than there are in the entire state of Maine.

Heading to Joshua Tree National Park, which is quite literally in the middle of Nowhere, even though it is just two and a half hours and 150 miles from Los Angeles, we exit off I-10 onto route 62.  As we travel through the towns of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Twentynine Palms, we see terrain that is parched and barren, something like the land the federal government traded (read: swindled) Native Americans with in the 19^th century treaties.

Arriving early afternoon at the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, we learn of the four-mile out and back trail to the Lost Horse Mine among the Joshua trees.  Passing through the West Entrance to the national park, we weave down Park Boulevard among roadside boulders on the first of March on a windy day of sun in the upper 50s.

By the way, the Joshua trees of the Mojave Desert are not really trees but a species of yuccas.  Like other desert plants, their waxy leaves expose little surface area, cleverly conserving moisture.  Growing to over 40’ at one inch per year, Joshua trees are home to orioles, hawks, and woodpeckers.

At 4384’ above sea level, the trailhead is appropriately found off the dirt Lost Horse Mine Road, which is barely wide enough for two cars.  At the trailhead parking for ten cars, we see others, making parking spaces where there are none, in this case on the access road to the trailhead.

Fortunately, the moderate-rated trail is straight forward.  At nearly 2P on a day the sun sets before 6P, we opt for the four-mile up and back trail to the one-time Lost Horse Mine.  We leave the 6.2-mile loop trail for the younger set.

Rocky and sadly lacking in Joshua trees due to the 1999 burn in the area, the trail rises steadily but never in a heart pounding way with only a 400’ elevation gain.  As one of the two most popular trails in Joshua Tree National Park, it is happy with hikers; which thankfully means we are unlikely to get lost.

The Lost Horse Mine

In the distance, we see the Lost Horse Mine structure, which produced 10,000 ounces of gold in the early 1900s.  A chain link fence surrounds the mine to protect visitors from the dangerous, open mine shaft.  Click here for more information about the history of gold mining at Joshua Tree.

As an easy hour there, and fifty minutes in return, the hike is enjoyable walk in the desert; after a month of pickleball in Ventura and Santa Barbara, for this day, we return to our hiking roots.

And our desert hiking adventure is all thanks to Nancy being real with us.

 

Eight days after this hike, we were home in Maine.

March 8, 2018

 

Nine days after this hike, all hell broke loose

March 9, 2018

Dan and Hannah – Images of Carpinteria, California

After loving the month of February in the Santa Barbara area, Hannah and I offer you images in four parts from our stay.

Part One – We had trails at the University of California (Santa Barbara), Jesusita Trail in Santa Barbara, and the Nojoqui Falls near Solvang.

Pacific Bluffs near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus

 

Hannah on the Jesusita Trail with our trusty Santa Barbara hiking guidebook

Hannah at the Nojoqui Falls

 

Part Two – We had our pickleball in Ventura and Santa Barbara

The women, men, and kids of Ventura Pickleball

 

Hannah ready to pounce on a short ball on the courts at Santa Barbara

 

 

Part Three – The walks along the Pacific Ocean

 

Harbor Seals at Carpinteria Beach

 

Carpinteria at sunset

 

Early morning at Carpinteria Beach

 

Blue heron at Arroyo Burro Beach, Santa Barbara

 

Arroyo Burro Beach from the Douglas Preserve

 

Carpinteria State Park

 

Surfers Beach at University of California, Santa Barbara

 

Part Four – But truly the best part were the Californians we met

Nancy Rose, our friend from Unity of Santa Barbara, and Hannah

 

Bruce and Anneli with Hannah and Dan lunching al fresco on fish tacos at Snapper Jack’s Taco Shack in Ventura

 

Hannah with our neighbor Kim, before heading into the Alcazar Theatre

 

Dan and Hannah with our pickleball compadres, Lynn and Mark, over lunch at Bonnie Lu’s in Ojai, just before our Chinese foot massages

 

Together for a mini-reunion with Dan, Gerry, Roz, Linda, and Paul, Class of 1966 Fair Lawn (New Jersey) High School

 

Rev. Larry Schellink at Unity of Santa Barbara

 

Celebrating Hannah’s 70th birthday at the Summerland Beach Cafe with Nancy Rose and Duncan

 

Carpinteria has become a home-away-from-home.

Dan and Hannah Make a Weak Attempt to Explore Another California Town – Solvang

Hannah and I are just not touristy folks.  Consider this.

Disneyland in Anaheim, California, a town where I first taught after graduating from Arizona State

What kind of grandparents are we that we won’t even take our grandsons to Disneyland (California) or Walt Disney World (Florida)?  That would be us.  We are not into crowds, waiting in line, and pricey tickets.  We have our moments of getting it right with Owen and Max, but we’re good if we are not voted into the Grandparents Hall of Fame outside of Orlando.

So, when Hannah and I choose places for us to travel, we opt for out-of-the-way national or state parks or small towns.  When we fly into Los Angeles, we flee north for Carpinteria as soon as possible.  We can’t get out of Las Vegas fast enough when we fly there to visit Utah’s national parks.  Visit New York City?  Not a chance.

On Solvang’s main drag

Last Friday, Hannah and I explored the small town of Ojai some 22 miles east of Carpinteria; today we are off to see what’s happening in the Danish-themed little town (pop. 6,000) of Solvang, 45 miles north of Santa Barbara.  First, we are looking for a locals café with booths for breakfast, then chat up some folks, and later explore this walkable town for exercise and then see what happens.

Before Santa Barbara wakes up this mid-February Friday, we sail through town on The 101 and soon exit onto the serpentine mountain route 154, where good drivers and bad go to die.  Strong words, I understand, but it winds through coastal mountains with the occasional passing lane, which tempt drivers to pass recklessly.  We recommend The 101 to Solvang along the coast for you to live to see another day.

Minutes before we enter Solvang, we pass the glitzy Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, which draws card players and slot machine button pushers from miles around.  Too touristy, too smoky, and indeed too depressing with many more losers than winners.  The only way to leave a casino with a small fortune is to start with a large fortune.

A chilly Solvang morning

Arriving in Solvang just before 8A, we are chilled by Arctic 40F temps for our walk around town to find a breakfast place.  An hour ago, we left Carpinteria on the coast where it was 10 degrees warmer.

So, here’s our plan when we come to a small town.  We seek out the breakfast spots that we have checked out first online; cafes preferably with booths, coffee at the ready, and muffins or two eggs over easy, home fries, and multi-grain toast.  That turns out to be a problemo in Solvang, a tourist town with over one million visitors per year.  That means one thing – restaurants are expensivo!

Dan with Hans

A quick stop in at Paula’s Pancakes (which sounds small time, n-est-ce pas?) shows us a menu with basic breakfasts for $10 and more.   And that doesn’t count the coffee!  Bundled up against the cold, we walk the streets of Solvang for 40 minutes seeing faux Danish shops and restaurants, some where reservations are required; in addition there is a park with a Little Mermaid statue and one of Hans Christian Anderson.  We are so out of our comfort zone.

In less than an hour, we have “done” Solvang as our last attempt at a breakfast place fails.  The Santa Ynez Café offers a Saran wrapped muffin and one cup of coffee that would break the bank.  We can’t leave fast enough as we pick up Subways subs, roll out of town, and skip breakfast entirely.

But things get better.  Motion is lotion.

The leisurely Nojoqui Falls trail

Our deliverence comes just six miles south of Solvang in the Nojoqui Falls Park made for families and family reunions.  Wide playing fields, groups of picnic tables with fire pits for large gatherings, Nojoqui Falls is made for Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Arriving midmorning on this Friday of President’s Weekend, we have been promised a modest ¾ of a mile round trip hike with stunning falls that I googled.

The rocky creek bed foreshadows what kind of falls lie ahead

Finding the rocky trail, which gently climbs towards the falls, we see no water around the boulders of the creek.  It’s pretty clear that the Google image of the falls is not going to match today’s flow.

Approaching a fenced off area with a sign saying Danger  Do Not Enter, we see that foot prints in the dirt beyond tell another story – few pay attention to this sign.  Unable to see the falls from behind the fences anyway, and rebels that we are, we hike 150’ more to a one-inch trickle coming 80’ down the mountainside.

Nojoqui Falls in all its sub-optimal glory

We have no complaints – for goodness sakes we are in California in February.  How can that be a bad thing?  Check out my video of the falls.

Heading back to Santa Barbara by way of the coastal 101 along the Pacific, we have another chance at outdoor redemption – the cliff walk at the Douglas Family Preserve, a public park located on a mesa above Arroyo Burro Beach.  This 70-acre property of undeveloped, ocean-front land was so named because Michael Douglas donated $600,000 to support this land acquistion.

Blue heron at Arroyo Burro Beach

Parking easily off Los Positas Road in the late morning, we follow the landscaped trail up to the mesa.  Coming upon Dog Central, we see canines that are catered to with doggie poop bags all along the trail, a doggie wash spa at the trailhead, and dogs off leash and free as dolphins in the ocean.

The bluffs of the Douglas Preserve

Up on the cliffs, there are no fences to the beach 60-70’ below.  As in the nearby Channel Islands, the safety guidelines are We don’t have fences, we have common sense.  This morning it works again.

Lunch at Arroyo Burro Beach with the Channel Islands in the distance

 

Having hiked two miles, we cool our jets at a picnic table above Arroyo Burro Beach where we lunch on our Subway subs and surreptitiously drink cold Dos Equis.  On hard-packed beach sand at mid-tide, we walk for a mile up and back with a light breeze under full sun at 64F.  California Dreamin’ at its best.

Arroyo Burro Beach from the cliffs of the Douglas Preserve

As the singer Meatloaf reminds us all that two out of three ain’t bad, we hit the Meatloaf standard today with doubles off the wall at Nojoqui Falls and the Douglas Preserve after striking out in Solvang.