The wind was howling so it was a quick and easy breakfast while trying to hold things down. We secured the tent as best we could, put everything else in the car and just hoped the tent would still be in one piece when we returned later.
U2’s Joshua Tree playing on the stereo we drove 45 minutes to the south of the park, the Cottonwood area. The drive was stunning, an ever-changing landscape of desert, mountains, rocks, Joshua trees and cacti. Very impressive scenery and very few other cars on the move. The cacti and rocks reminded us of swimming through coral gardens when we scuba dive and the far reaching views were just amazing. I especially liked the tall Ocotillo plants with crimson flowers which I have since found out are also know as desert coral.
Today’s hike was Lost Palms Oasis a 7.2 mile / 1,026ft elevation hike through low desert to an oasis of 100+ fan palm trees. It was a truly spectacular hike in that we’ve never been to an area like this before so everything was new and interesting.
When we arrived at the oasis overlook there was a sign saying the trail ended here and to continue at your own risk, which of course we did. It really was a bit of a scramble which concluded with crawling between 2 rock boulders on our hands and knees, but oh so worth it. We were surrounded by massive fan palm trees swaying in the breeze through a narrow canyon, it was like another world. So cool.
Back at the car the wind was building and we’d been alerted of an extreme weather warning for the whole park so we didn’t dilly dally and went straight back to camp. We quickly cooked up sausages and pasta (well as quickly as we could, the Coleman stove did not perform well against the wind and cold temperature), shoved it down our throats and retreated to the tent to ride out the wind storm. Everything inside had a layer of dust where the wind had been blowing fine particles in all day, but after our long hike, that wasn’t going to keep us awake. Ear plugs in, hatches battened down, fingers crossed the tent makes it through the night…Zzzzzz.
