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Southwest Spring Desert Tour
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Arizona, California and Nevada
March 18 - 27, 2005
Wednesday, March 23 Sun City, CA to Yucca Valley, CA 214 miles
Day 4: Pines, Palms and Joshua Trees
It was not raining when we woke up and the rain today was supposed to be ending. We left Sun City under a mostly cloudy sky and the temperature in the low 50’s. I wanted to check out Ortega Highway since we were so close and then take Pines to Palms East, then go to Joshua Tree, finally getting back to the original planned route. We headed out on I-215, not even two seconds later it started to rain. We took the exit for 74 West, I though 74 would be quicker than the smaller side roads.
The sky looked darker to the west but we continued in the traffic and rain. There was major construction going on 74 and further down the road part of the road was flooded, all muddy. It was a miserable ride and we pulled over for gas at 74 and I-15. We were so close to ride the Ortega highway and even though we already wasted so much time getting here, we decided to turn back around and head east on 74, back on the scheduled route. Who knows in what shape Ortega Highway was after last night’s rain. The traffic and construction sucked all the way past Hemet. We were all muddy from the rain and construction. Finally 74 started climbing and we were leaving civilization for a while. The rain kept on falling and it was pretty cold, the road got super twisty and felt slippery at times. The “Ice on road” signs were opened and I kept trying to figure out if they actually open them up when ice is present on the road or do they keep those open all winter. When I passed an orange snow plow truck heading the other direction I started to worry. We were still climbing, now there was black gravel all over the road, making cornering even slower. I let a few cars pass me. Finally around 6500 feet the road started to descend and the rain stopped. We were leaving the green pines behind and heading in to the desert. The winds picked up and were blowing us around. The final section of the Pines to Palm Hwy was truly awesome as it wound down the mountain like a giant serpent, turning and twisting. You could see the road down below as it wound down the slope three times before it disappeared in the distance. Again, the sun was shining and the rain all forgotten. I enjoyed this road a lot, the sharper curves gave in to the sweepers toward the bottom and we arrived in Palm Desert. The pavement seemed pretty inconsistent at times on this road, sometimes smooth and sometimes bumpy, but views were always great.
We decided to have lunch in Palm Desert. The temperature was in the 70’s. After a gas stop we pulled in to a parking lot that offered a variety of restaurants. As always, we looked for a place to eat outside and since the Elephant Bar on 111 had outside seating and since there was a parking spot available close by, that would be our place for lunch today. The inside of the bar was huge, but the outside seating area was also large, equipped with umbrellas and surrounded by palm trees. Brian ordered the langustino, shrimp and chicken jambalaya and I ordered a shrimp po’ boy sandwich. Food was really good. After lunch we continued on 111 though town, I just love those really tall and skinny palm trees. Palm Desert which is south of Palm Springs, is a very clean and interesting looking city. A place worth further exploration, if we had more time. After a while we crossed Palm Desert and we were in Indio again. We took I-10 heading east towards Joshua Tree National Park. The interstate traffic almost came to a stop as we hit a section that started climbing in elevation, the semis all going 30 MPH in the right lane and the other semis passing the slower ones at 40MPH in the left lane started driving me nuts. After some insane passing we finally got ahead of everyone. We had to back track one exit since the sign for Joshua Tree was blocked by a semi in the right lane. I expected for the Interstate exits to be numbered like on my paper map, but they weren’t. The glare from the sun, plus the high speeds causing the GPS to vibrate made it hard to read.
We entered the park and found out that the visitor center closes at 4PM. It was just past four and we did not have to pay the admission fee to the park. The warmth that we left in Palm Desert was gone now and we added one layer for now. There were a few spots to pull over for pictures before the visitor center, but hardly any paved ones after that. The pavement was also pretty rough. Two deserts, two large ecosystems whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation, come together at Joshua Tree National Park. Below 3,000 feet, the Colorado Desert encompasses the eastern part of the park and the higher, moister, and slightly cooler Mojave Desert is the special habitat of the Joshua tree. Joshua Tree National Park is immense, nearly 800,000 acres. This is a land shaped by strong winds, sudden torrents of rain, and climatic extremes. Joshua trees are found only in North America in the states of California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Confined mostly to the Mojave Desert between 2,000 and 6,000 feet, they thrive in the open grasslands. There were a few cars in the park at this late hour and not too many flowers here. We pretty much rode though without stopping much at first, the road was sweeping but not what I would call twisty. It wasn’t until we got to the northwest side of the park that the Joshua trees appeared in abundance, in addition to really cool rock formations. Once we turned toward the west entrance the pavement improved drastically, the road was wider and also with many paved pullout spots for picture taking.
Since the sun was getting ready to set, I knew that we would not make it to Barstow tonight, we would have to get grab a motel room close to the park. Having some extra time, we rode up to Keys View, which got us there via a narrow and bumpy road. As we ascended to the small parking lot I felt the temperatures drop from cold to freezing, Keys View sits at 5185 feet in elevation. The view was amazing from here especially at this hour with the sun setting. The wind was blowing furiously as we walked around the scenic overlook and snapped some pictures, you could almost see the whole park from here. The sun now a deep shade of amber was slowly slipping behind the rocks. All of the sudden everyone in the park was gathered here at Keys View, getting their cameras ready. Before the sun could totally set we were on our way. This landscape is so unique here to begin with. Now at sunset the Joshua trees just black silhouettes against a backdrop of pink and purple painted clouds. That sight was surreal. We stopped to change out our tinted helmet shields for our clear ones and put on all our layers. The last section of the road had some nice curves and as we continued on 62 West the curves continued. Now it was pitch black as we zigzagged down in to the sea of lights, the towns below. At times it almost felt if we were flying high above the earth, circling way above the lights coming down for a landing.
Still trying to stay on the route to Barstow, we pulled over at the Super 8 on 62 West of 247 in Yucca Valley, but they had no rooms available. We were only a few miles a way from a base and the marines just got back from Iraq. Most of the motels were all booked with the marine’s families in town. Looking at my map I wasn’t sure where we should go to find a room. I didn’t feel like riding around until 10PM looking for a room like we did two days ago. It was also cold, in the low 40’s already and dropping. Brian went back in to the Super 8 office to ask for advice and was told that a room just opened up. By 8PM we were checked in and shortly after, we were outside walking over to the Carl’s Jr. for some food.
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