After going through Joshua Tree NP we headed towards the Salton Sea. It is a sea that flooded because of the Colorado River early in the 1900's. It's incredibly salty and doesn't have anything that is feeding it, so it keeps getting saltier. The "beach" we stopped at in the Salton Sea Recreation Area is essentially all barnacles and fish skeletons. It was super weird. But there were so many birds. Logs of gulls, herons, pelicans and shore birds. I wondered for at least an hour just getting photos.
We moved along to see if there were other spots but didn't have a ton of luck anywhere else before where we were planning on staying, which was in Westmorland.
-Miranda
Cholla Garden
Ocotillo
Sarah hanging out in Joshua Tree NP.
A cute chipmunk.
Quite the variety of birds.
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We left the casino town and headed into the Mojave Desert National Preserve. The change in scenery from the beginning of the drive to the end was pretty crazy. There were tons of joshua trees to start and none by the end. We stopped frequently to listen for and find birds. We got to see a few American Kestrals as well as a Shrike and Cactus Wren.
One hike we did was really fun. It was Ring Trail in Banshee Canyon. There were a couple spots where metal rings were pounded into the rock so you could use them to climb up or down. Once we got to the open area we were once again on the lookout for birds. It got a bit toasty in the sun, but was a good hike.
After leaving the park, we headed down to Yucca Valley to return the car. Once we got there we found a place to stay and Joe returned the car. So, you remember that gash in the paint we got in Desert Valley that we were worried about? We rented from Enterprise and they have this index card. If the card can cover the "blemish" then there is no charge. Fortunately, the mark did fit within the card. So, no need for us to worry. That was pretty nice.
-Miranda
Mojave Desert National Preserve
Lots of Joshua Trees
Tracks crossed through the preserve and they were transporting tons of military vehicles. Humvees and tanks along with quite a few other things.
Ring Trail
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Our first stop was the Mosaic Canyon. This was probably one of my favorite spots in the park. The hike wasn't a long one, but it took you through a narrow canyon. When you looked at the rock you would all of a sudden realize it was marble all around you. The way the water carved the rock was very neat. Once we got to where the canyon opened back up, we walked around looking for birds, then headed back to the car.
While driving to the next spot, there was a sign about gravel on the road up ahead and some road work. The road was relatively quiet, but right at the spot where the "gravel" was (it was more like baseball/softball sized rocks) a truck was going the opposite direction at the same time. I was as far over in my lane as I could be so he could go around the pile, but he decided to just run right through it for some reason. His tire threw a rock up that hit our rental car... I heard the thud but wasn't sure where it hit. When we stopped at the Furnace Creek visitor center (the only place we saw a roadrunner in the park, oddly enough) we checked the car and found quite a gash in the paint on the bumper. This was a brand new, 2014 car with no marks on it....
Anyway, we continued on our way, stopping at sand dunes, and of course the Badwater Basin. We stopped a few other places along the route, though nothing super noteworthy. It was a neat area and actually a bit chilly. The cold weather (for the area) worked to our advantage on this part of the trip.
On our way out of the park, we noticed an RV coming the other direction going slowly, I noticed the coyote jogging in front of the RV and told Joe to slow down. We ended up getting a number of photos and the coyote came over next to our car. Hung out by the window and seemed to wait for me to feed it. :( So, that's pretty sad. Apparently some of the local coyotes have learned that they can beg for food from cars. Sadly people don't realize that by feeding them they're actually increasing the likelihood that it will be killed by a car or cause other issues with people that would mean the park staff would have to do something about it. There was another one doing the same thing a few more miles down the road.
Once we left the park we headed towards Baker. It's a small tow on the interstate where we were planning on staying the night. Once we got there, we decided it was a bit too sketchy. The town is just sad. It's really run down and the only thing around and still open was some chains. The motel we would have stayed at had a few good reviews and probably would have been fine, but it just looked extremely run down and depressing. Also, the only place we could have really eaten in town was the Denny's. We stopped there to share a small dinner that was decent and then decided to drive to the Nevada border and stay in a cheap hotel/casino there. It wasn't far out of the way of our planned trip for the next day so that seemed the best route.
The casino town was basically three different casinos and hotels that are all owned by the same company. There's a mall and even a small amusement park attached to one of them. I don't know if the area is dying or if it was just not very busy because of the time of week and year, but a lot of stuff was closed and it was a bit dead looking.
-Miranda
;)
Hanging out in the Mosaic Canyon.
Sand dunes.
Badwater Basin
The first coyote.
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After finding breakfast, we worked our way out of town to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is a park right next to Las Vegas. The park is gorgeous. We stopped and did a 2.5 mile hike at the Calico Hills. Nothing super long, but it ended with a nice view of the area and you could see Vegas in the distance.
We had a bit of driving and sight seeing to do, so we continued on our way and headed to Ash Meadows National Refuge. Here we spotted an adult male Northern Harrier, which was fun to watch (it was already getting too far away, so I didn't get any photos). We first stopped at a little board walk where we saw a few birds and a small jack rabbit. No one else was there at all. It was nice but also slightly creepy.
We checked out the "Devil's Hole" which is actually run by the Death Valley National Park. It wasn't much, but it is home to a rare fish that is only found there. Because of that and other conservation efforts, it is a very well protected area, with a caged in viewing area and that's it. Security cameras around and everything. While in the park we stopped at the Crystal Reservoir and did another boardwalk then hopped in the car and worked our way to Death Valley National Park.
We entered the park a bit before sunset. Joe really wanted to get somewhere highish to be able to see the sunset. There was something called Dante's View, so we decided to rush up there to try and get to the lookout before the sun set behind the mountains. We just made it. The view was pretty amazing. I'm glad we happened to come in the park from that direction so we could start out the visit with an overall view of the park.
We left from there and worked our way to Stovepipe Wells where we stayed the night. It was one of our most expensive hotel rooms, especially considering how sparse the room was, however, considering the location, it was worth it. The restaurant had some very good food as well.
-Miranda
;)
Calico Hills. (Click on image to enlarge)
;)
The view of Vegas from our hike. (Click on image to enlarge)
Neat iron work along a boardwalk in Ash Meadows.
A bunny.
;)
Sunset over Death Valley. (Click on image to enlarge)
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Sorry for the long absence. Internet has been a bit scarce.
I'll put the updates up by each separate activity just to help prevent some confusion.We met up with Sandra in Hervey Bay, got to the hostel we had booked and started trying to decide what we were going to do for Fraser Island. After looking over prices and such, we decided to rent our own 4x4 vehicle that included the camping gear, permits and ferry ride. We picked up the truck on Tuesday morning and headed to Fraser. The driving was pretty crazy. The roads are all sand and some were in pretty bad shape. It took a little getting used to what you could do with the truck. Our first plan was to get to the beach. The driving on the beach was pretty good. We had tide time tables that let us know the space of time we could drive on the beach. We stopped and saw a few things, then found a place to camp just off the beach. It started out as a nice spot until it started raining.... Once the three of us were in the tent, the wind kicked up. So, Sandra kept getting hit in the head by the tent pole, plus it would rain once in a while. Basically, we did get some sleep, but we all woke up with wet feet from the rain. When we pulled the pads out, Joe was actually sleeping in a puddle. Fortunately, the pad he was on didn't let the water soak through.
We put everything back in the truck and were on the beach by 6:30. The beach was a little sloppy driving, but we got to see the sights we wanted to see and never got stuck in the drier sand. That night we decided to just head inland and try staying at a campground. After some hassle we got a spot, set up the tent, had a yummy dinner and were back in the tent by 8:30.
The last day on Fraser, we had quite a bit of time to kill. We had a relaxing breakfast and tried to let things dry off some, but of course it started sprinkling again, so we packed everything up and headed for Lake Makenzie. The lake was gorgeous. We had lunch there and went for a swim before heading to the ferry to go back to the mainland.
In all we had fun, but the weather was a bit of a pain.
-Miranda
The Maheno Shipwreck.
The dingo we saw!
Joe and Sandra getting dinner ready at the campground.
Kookaburra
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