Saturday: Mount Shasta (from the airplane)
Los Angeles
The shuttle bus to the rental car
Hittin' da road
Windfarms outside of LA
First night in the town of Joshua Tree
Our lovely hotel
Mmm ... beer & salad
Random street music instruments in Joshua Tre
Day 2 (Sunday): Our campsite! (note: tent to be moved)
Granite
Joshua Tree is a land of boulder piles
Around the campsite
You guessed it ... a Joshua Tree!
Hiking out to the Crown Prince Lookout
Cactus
Rock scramblin' up to the lookout
Lookout over the Mojave Desert
Rock, desert
Stupid tourists.
Joshua Tree closeup
Tree hugger
Granite closeup - very granular!
Some kinda cool plant
Hiking back to the car
Yet another Joshua Tree
The evening light on the rocks was quite spectacular
Skull Rock
Sunset
Our campsite
Day 3 (Monday): Breakfast coffee!
Boulder scramblin' looking for rock routes
Joshua Tree "forest"
Cool cactus
Hey, another Joshua Tree!
If you look very, very carefully, you can see a guy free soloing on this wall.
Sunset in hidden valley
I see the route, but where are the trees to use as anchors?
Mmmm ... veggie stirfry for supper!
My headlamp is brighter than your headlamp!
Day 4 (Tuesday): Behind our campsite, at dawn.
View of our campsite from the back
Killaine and an eight-legged friend
Yes, it's a tarantula!
At the start of the hike to the Hexahedron Mine - old "mortars" used by the first nations chaps to grind grains
Note the contrast in rocks
Another interesting cactus
Hey, I've seen that kinda tree before ...
Hiking down the road we didn't want to take our rental car down
The sleeping snake Killaine accidentally walked across - fortunately, not a Rattler
The route to the Hexahedron mine parallels the mountain range to the left, then heads up into it
A surprisingly major landmark on the way to the mine
Turn left at the fence ...
Old tin cans from an old camp
Interesting barrel cactus
Up in the mountains, looking back to where we came from
Heading up the old road to the mine
The scars of the mine can be seen ahead
Old building at the mine site
Killaine investigating the mine
"Keep going a little further ..."!
Heading back into the valley
It was a warm day
Micro-cairn marking the way back
Distant ridges
Final haul back to the car
"The" classic Joshua Tree photo!
Day 5 (Wednesday): Dry salt lake on the drive north
Mojave National Park
Roadside plants
Another roadside desert plant
Cinder cones in Mojave National Park
Now, that's desert!
The sign says it all!
This is Death Valley
Dude in Death Valley
You can't really see it, but high up on the rock wall is a sign that says "sea level"
Lowest point in the Americas!
Looking up to Telescope Peak (~11,000 feet up)
Sharman on the salt flats at Badwater
Enough driving - time for a hike through the canyons to the Zabriskie Lookout
Absolutely spectacular hike
Ridges in the evening sunlight
The whole area is sculpted by the rare flash floods that come through
Killaine shoulda read this sign before going into that mine the other day ...
The lookout, finally! (When we got there, we discovered that we could have driven here! But, it was a neat hike nonetheless)
Yikes.
Sunset in Death Valley
Day 6 (Thursday): Panorama of the Eastern Sierra Nevada (Mount Whitney is in there somewhere)
Mount Whitney is right in the middle.
Quick pack before heading up into the Pallisades for a 3 day backpack trip
Small packs!
Finally - trees!
... and snow!
The Palisades are inside the John Muir Wilderness area in the eastern Sierra Nevada
Aspens
Reflection in the first lake (at around 3000m)
Sunset on Death Valley (in the distance)
Campsite - luckily, I brought my wind-resistant tent (it got very windy)
Supper time!
Day 7 (Friday)
Off to hike up higher for a view
Hiking up the trail towards the glacier
View of the 14,000 footers
Looking down on the lakes (we're camped at the lake in the foreground)
Looking back towards Death Valley
Guy in the Palisades
Resting in the meadow on the way back to camp
Ice
Tree trunk
Temple Crag
Somebody with part of a tree
Day 8 (Saturday): That's a 3 day pack?
View of the second lake, on the way out
Pine tree closeup
Back at the car ... back to civilization.
Mount Whitney
Our hotel in Lone Pine on our last night
We had a beer in Jake's Saloon!
The Super Burrito!
This trip sponsored by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
In yet another of the irritating lines at the airport!
Smoke from the fires above Malibu
More Malibu fires
A very, very cool aquarium of Jelly Fish back at the Vancouver airport
