Last fall, October 2016, we took a trip to LA to see some of Gui's best friends. I'll be honest, I didn't love LA....not my style....but Joshua Tree!!! Our side trip to Joshua trip made the whole trip worth it! I can't believe I'm just now posting about it.
At night, the trees and shapes looked like crazy sea creatures....like you were at the bottom of the ocean. It was really magical.
Joshua Tree National Park was about a 3 hour drive from LA. We went on a Wednesday and had this great plan to just get there and rent some camping gear from Joshua Tree Outfitters...you know....flying by the seat of our pants, being all spontaneous. LITTLE DID WE KNOW...Joshua Tree Outfitters is closed on Wednesdays (why...?) I blame Gui because, well, it was his fault. His one job was to research and plan the Joshua Tree portion of the trip haha. But in a true-to-Gui-style, everything of course worked out just fine; better than expected even.
Watching the sunset.
We drove into the park and stopped at the highest point to watch the sunset. Then we drove back out of the park, to Walmart, and bought a tent, a blow up mattress (b/c I'm tryin' be comfortable), and some blankets.
Our lovely campsite.
We built our campsite at night which was pretty tricky. And it took us a long time to find an empty campsite! You may want to consider booking ahead. There were signs everywhere saying not to run over the tarantulas with your car (ahhh). Anyways, with our new camping gear and air mattress, we had one of the best nights of my life. Sleeping under the stars (tent had dat skylight) was so beautiful.
Since we didn't get to explore at all the night before due to "our" little failure to plan issue....we got up early and explored all during the day. The place is stunning...I really don't know how to describe it. It's like a massive adult play area. The rocks are massive, some bigger than houses, and they give you a humbling feeling; they feel so powerful.
I mean aren't you just dying to climb these?!
Unfortunately I was a little bit sick at this point, so I wasn't able to run, climb, jump, wig out to my normal extent. But I still got my climb on! I really can't say enough about this place. I couldn't have imagined loving it so much. If you are out near LA, this is a must see.
