And The Saga Continues...

After a terrible morning start to our journey (detailed Here and Here), we made it to the visitor's center at Joshua Tree National Park.  Thankfully, the nice man working at the desk was able to direct us to another campground just outside of the park.  And thankfully, they had plenty of available space.

Our campground was called Joshua Tree Lake Resort.  I would hardly call it a lake but this is the desert and there was water with ducks happily swimming.  We found what we thought was an ideal spot and set up our new tent.  [Sidebar:  Seriously the REI Base Camp 4 tent is awesome!  Easy to set up.  Easy to take down.  And actually fit back into the tent bag!]  After setting up camp, we headed to the park.  And after such a miserable morning, we were rewarded with this...

Joshua Tree is a beautiful place.  We went to the Keyes View overlook.  You can see for miles and miles.   And then we did the short loop hike around Barker Dam, which was where we saw bighorn sheep on our last trip.  Sadly we did not see any this time.

Then it was back to our campsite for a dinner of hotdogs roasted over the fire:)   

Nothing quite compares to the beauty of the night sky in the desert.  Stars so vivid that it is hard to believe.  Being able to lay all warm and snug in a sleeping bag while star gazing is a something everyone should do at least once in their life.

The next morning we were up with the sun.  This was my view of the sunrise.  Just beautiful!

We had plans to hike a bit and then make the mad dash back through Los Angeles.  [Cue ominous music]

To be continued...... 

Tip for desert camping:  It has been our experience that the desert can be a windy place.  A smart camper would set their tent in a somewhat sheltered spot.  We, however, are not smart campers.  So we did have to endure a bit of wind.  But the tent held up nicely.  Unlike The Tent-cident of 2010 in Death Valley.