Tag: National Parks

Day 20: 01/15/2016 – Joshua Tree National Park

Day20RouteDestination: Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree National Park

Route: I-10W, National Park Roads

Mileage: 133 miles                                New state: California

Dutch and his pup.
Dutch and his pup.

It is time to hit the road again! But before we go we spend the morning hanging out with Marilee and the Toyota crew. They are great people and it is educational to check out their rigs to see the modifications they made and pick up tips on living in a condensed space. One such person is Dutch. A Texan who met his wife in Colorado (where she is visiting family at the time of our stop in Quartzsite), they sold their house and became rubber tramps a couple of years ago. Great person to get ideas from and learn about full-time RV living. We finish up our time in Quartzsite chatting with Marilee; we need to leave in relatively good order so we can grab a site in the first come first serve Jumbo Rocks campground.

Lunch of champions: pulled pork fries and funnel cake.
Lunch of champions: pulled pork fries and funnel cake.

As we are leaving, we decide to stop at our favorite food truck and get lunch for the road. Abandoning the poutine, we opt for the pulled pork fries and the funnel cake. Lunch of champions people. Alex got fries and pulled pork, but fruit is substituted for the funnel cake. Alex falls asleep with bits of pork on his shirt, which Penny so kindly cleans (very gently, can’t wake the toddler) off of him.

SignLA
Follow the green signs!
SignCALine
Hello California! So glad we made it.

As we approach the highway, it is straight ahead, at full speed! California, here we come! Approximately 30 minutes on the road, we see the sign we have spent 20 days driving towards – the California state line! We still have a hurdle to cross before we can be officially admitted into the state – the agricultural inspection station. As we slow down to stop, the agent just waves us through and seems annoyed that we slowed down. Onward!

We reach exit 168 that will take us into Jumbo Rocks. As we are approaching the park entrance, who do we see boon-docking on BLM land? The Wynns from Gone with the Wynns! The solar array on their motorhome and teal logo on their smart car are pretty solid identifiers. Full-timers in a class A, we have picked up helpful tips and hints from their website. Especially in the regard to solar power and coach batteries. A quick stop to say hi and thanks for the inspiration, and we are on the road enter Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua Tree is located where the Mojave (western half of park, 3000 feet plus above sea level) and Colorado (eastern half of park, below 3000 feet above sea level) deserts converge. Mojave flora includes pinyon pines, junipers, scrub oaks, Mojave yuccas, Mojave prickly pear cacti, Parry’s nolina, and, of course, the Joshua tree (a species of yucca). Mojave fauna includes antelope ground squirrel, yucca night lizard, black-tailed jackrabbit, common raven, American kestrel, loggerhead shrike, red-tailed hawk, Scott’s oriole, western screech owl, and the southwester speckled rattlesnake. The Colorado desert’s flora includes palo verde, ocotillo, smoke tree, brittlebush, chuparosa, sand verbena, pencil cholla, and dune primrose. The kit fox, kangaroo rat, zebratail lizard, LeConte’s thrasher, tiny checkerspot butterfly, and the western diamondback rattle snake are the fauna that inhabit the Colorado desert.

The piles of boulders are impressive to see.  The rocks are granite, formed by magma intruding on the Pinto genesis formation underground. As the granite cooled, horizontal and vertical cracks were formed. As the granite was uplifted, ground water caused chemical weathering, which widened the cracks and rounded the edges. The soil eroded, resulting in the heaps of monzogranite seen today.

We arrive at Jumbo Rocks, and there aren’t many spots left. Fortunately, there are a couple of other campground options that we drove by that seemed sparsely populated with campers. Luck was on our side, and we found a spot to wedge ourselves into. Not nearly as bad as our first night at Big Bend, but not ideal. After we settle in, we take a short hike to Skull Rock. Nothing too strenuous and it gets us out of the RV after the day’s drive. We don’t want to be gone too long since there is a special program at the amphitheater tonight.

While we are eating dinner, there is a knock on the door. It was Ranger Doug informing us about the program at the amphitheater. We had planned on going, hence the early dinner time, and finish up so we can be on time. The desert night is a bit chilly, so we bundle up and walk to the amphitheater. Ranger Doug is traveling across the country informing people about the posters the WPA (remember those school lessons about the New Deal?) printed for the National Parks between 1938 and 1941. Many of the original posters have been lost or forgotten in archives. Multiple versions for a single park have also been discovered. It is a fascinating talk at the time and effort into the reproduction process is staggering. If the opportunity presents itself to hear Ranger Doug speak, one should seize it; he is enthusiastic in his mission and knowledgeable. As always, it is early to bed, for what we hope is an early to rise.

Day 14: 01/09/2016 – Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Destination: Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Route: US-180W, US-62W

Mileage: 40

Today is a day trip to Carlsbad Caverns! Well, with a side trip to the Carlsbad, NM proper for some fun with house sale closing documents. Our house went under contract in December 2015 and since we are clearly no longer in Delaware, we are doing something called ‘signing outside of closing’. In other words we sign all the documents prior to closing, scan the signed documents, email the pdf files back to our closing coordinator, and get the originals in the mail to return to the coordinator post haste. If all is timed just right the originals will be in the attorney’s hands the day of closing. If all does not go well, the electronic documents suffice while the originals documents enjoy the hospitality of the USPS.

The closing documents arrived via email Friday and we printed all the documents in the Carlsbad public library. What we need on a lovely Saturday morning is a notary to witness and notarize several of the documents. As luck would have it, the Wells Fargo in Carlsbad has a public notary. We spend approximately an hour waiting for the notary, one of the bank managers. Papers signed and notarized, we continue south to the caverns.

Abby parked at the Carlsbad Caverns visitors center.
Abby parked at the Carlsbad Caverns visitors center.

We arrive at the caverns and get Abby and the dogs tucked away. It is a cool and partly cloudy day so the dogs will be find hanging out in the RV with plenty of water and the ceiling vents cracked. We initially forget our National Parks Annual Pass, and Dave returns to the RV to get the pass. This will save us the admission fee and paid for itself on our 2015 RV trip.

Going into a hole in the ground.
Going into a hole in the ground.

The elevator to the caverns is broken with an unknown repair date (weeks, months, years?). We are going to have to hike in and out of the caverns. Alex is snug in his Osprey and we head towards the natural entrance. Just before we enter, a ranger goes through the rules of the caverns – no food, no throwing coins in pools, don’t touch the rock formations, and no loud voices are among some of the don’ts. We have some misgivings about being able to comply with the no loud voices with Alex, who has just entered a shrieking stage. This could be interesting.

The natural entrance after our initial descent.
The natural entrance after our initial descent.

As we start our descent, Alex lets out a couple good shrieks and discovers – ECHOES! And continues making a wide variety of noises and giggling hysterically at the echoes. Fortunately, Alex settles in and stops the loudest noises before we get too far into the cavern. The walk down is rather steep in some places and deceiving. We reach a point where the descent seems to stop and think we have reached the bottom. It is just a brief breather before the second, steeper descent begins. It is going to be an interesting climb out.

On the descent to the Big Room, with some pretty intense switch backs.
On the descent to the Big Room

Due to our late start, we follow the advice of the rangers and push through the descent quickly in the hopes of seeing the Big Room in its entirety. Walking in is off-putting. The lighting was done by a stage lighting expert the majority of the path is in shadow and you often discover the angle of the slope only after you have started to walk down it. We make good time and start our journey through the Big Room.

Lion's tail.
Lion’s tail.

It is fascinating how many different forms the rock takes. The caverns were formed by hydrogen sulfide rich water migrating through the fractures and faults of the Capitan limestone. When the water mixed with oxygen, sulfuric acid was formed and dissolved the limestone, creating the caverns. Gypsum (calcium sulfate), silt and clay deposits were left behind. As the water levels dropped, speleotherms (cave formations) started to develop, but this action ceased approximately 4 million years ago.

Speleotherm
Speleotherm
Cavern pool.
Cavern pool.

We also learn that it takes approximately 8 months for surface water to make it into the caverns. The National Parks Service has inadvertently altered the flow of water into the caverns with the construction of roadways the visitors center. These structures increase water run off and divert water from percolating into the caverns. Years of drought have also been detrimental to the amount of water entering the caverns. The water in the cavern pools is high susceptible to contamination when people throw in coins. Minerals leach out of the coins and foul the pools; the water is stagnant and the contaminants are not washed away.

Miniature speleotherm formation.
Speleotherm formation.
Hiking in the caverns. Alex is fixing our hair.
Hiking in the caverns. Alex is fixing our hair.

We encounter a ranger at an intersection of two trails. We can go the longer route, which will take about an hour, or we can take the cutoff and be out of the Big Room in about 20 minutes. We choose the longer route. We are glad we did. We look into the lower caverns and the ‘bottomless pit’. It is hard to imaging exploring these caverns without the modern conveniences of high intensity lamps or the walkways. The early explorers of the caverns were very brave people. The Big Room complete, we take a 15 minute break in the cafeteria to prepare to the walk out of the caverns. Dave takes Alex and packs him out into the daylight.

Dave carrying Alex out of the caverns.
Dave carrying Alex out of the caverns.

Overall, we have a great experience at Carlsbad Caverns. There were very few people in the caverns, perhaps due to the main elevators being out or the fact that it is early January. Whatever the reason, it made the experience very enjoyable.