5-20-10 -- Joshua Tree to HOME

On this, the last day of my trip, I awoke just in time to catch the sunrise peeking over the split rocks on the horizon. I had expected it to get VERY cold up in this high desert, but it stayed relatively comfortable all night. My intention had always been to ride through the park in one day, and as I studied the map in the morning, it looked pretty doable. After reading some of the warnings in the guide, I got pretty concerned about water. I considered riding back to town to pick up a couple of gallons, but decided to press on instead. The goodness of others is surprisingly reliable.

The native plant life here is AMAZING! I couldn’t have picked a better time to visit the desert. All those late-spring rain showers we have been having have sent this desolate corner of the Mojave and Colorado desserts into full bloom! The plants are literally bursting at the seams with growth. I’ve seen Ocotillo trees in the past, but never during their growth periods. Usually these plants looks like a bushel of brown, thorny sticks poking out of the ground. Right now their bark has turned an earthy green, and has literally split as it has swollen with water. The plants foliage actually grows directly out of the main stock of the plant, and then flowers at the tip. Apparently these deciduous trees can grow and lose their leaves as many as 5 times per year! Take a look at these pictures:

Further down the alluvial plain is the Cholla Cactus garden. These attractive, soft looking cacti are beautiful, but NASTY. They carry the nickname ‘jumping cactus’ because of their propensity to attach themselves to unwary passerby’s. The thorns have microscopic rearward facing barbs that puncture the skin – once in, they are nearly impossible to remove. I was a skeptic, so I decided to test the theory. Taking the leather case for my camera, I lightly brushed one of the plants. Sure enough, the case became badly stuck to the plant. It took some time to separate the two without getting my hands stuck as well. Once removed there were STILL prickles stuck in the case. Paula had told me a story of a young girl playing near a plant and falling headlong into a Cholla. It took a hospital visit and many hours to remove all the thorns. This is not a plant to be messed with!

The first 30 miles of the park slipped under my wheels seemingly effortlessly. The cool, dry, morning air was refreshing in my lungs. I started at the northern entrance to the park, and proceeded southward. Unfortunately all downhill riding and interesting features are in the first half of the day. By mile 35 I had dropped to the bottom of a grueling valley which I then had to spend the rest of the afternoon riding out of. The heat became pretty oppressive by about 2pm, and with nothing interesting to look at, I started to feel my enthusiasm drop.

Having come into the park with only 1.5 liters of water, I found myself running empty after only a couple of hours. Luckily all I had to do for a refill was hold my bottle out as cars drove past; I didn’t even have to get off the bike before they pulled right over to fill me up. I think people feel sorry for you when you’re out there baking in the sun, sweating your ass off while they cruise by in air conditioned comfort. Either way – thanks to all those random strangers for keeping me from becoming a skeleton on the side of the road!

It was 4pm by the time I finally made it to the Cottonwood Spring ranger station – still 7 miles from the park exit. I had become overexposed from the severe riding conditions. I was actually shivering, and put on a coat despite the 90+ degree heat. I decided to take a nap and get out of the sun for a while before exiting the park.

The final 7 miles out of the park were a BLAST. Freshly rested from my nap, I FLEW down the steep downgrade to interstate 10. Maintenance crews had just tarred and graveled the road, so staying upright was a challenge, but I was just so thrilled to be going downhill that I didn’t even care! It was an exhilarating finish to my journey.

Unfortunately when the road connected to I-10, I was out of luck (it’s not legal to ride on the interstate). So I grabbed a ride with a friendly trucker who actually took me all the way back to L.A. It had been a long and satisfying last day of my trip. I went back to my sister’s to sleep and get ready to fly home on Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading! If you would like to see all of the pictures from my journey, you can do so here:

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