Month: January 2024

Quartzite is a small town in Arizona., There is a population of about 2,500 people, however, in January and February the population can exceed 200,000 people. We were shocked with the crowded city. The have a giant RV show, gun show, gem and rocks, acres of vendors and Quartzfest which is a giant Ham Radio get together this year exceeding 690 people, which we attended. We dry camped on BLM land with the other hams for the week. Out most exciting time was a four-wheel-drive tour where we saw petroglyphs, the original town buildings from the 1800’s, and a tungsten mine.

Joshua Tree is located in both the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. As the name depicts, the park is home to thousands of Joshua Trees. As we traveled the various trails and roads, the landscape changes, where creosote became the most common tree. We also hiked to petroglyphs and drove on a four-wheel-drive road for a geology tour.

The zoo is in the Palm Desert. It is a zoo and botanical garden. They have over 500 animals with 150 species. Many of the enclosures are several acres in size giving the animals plenty of room to wonder. The wallabies are in an enclosure which allows them to interface with visitors. There was also a model railroad demonstration covering about a half an acre.

We continued to explore the park and the surrounding area. We drove to the Salton Sea and then explored the park visiting the Inspiration Wash Drive, which in places was a rough 4-wheel-drive road and the Fonts Point Drive where we watched the sunset. It was interesting to watch the change in colors as the sunset occurred.

The park is located in San Diego and Riverside counties in Southern California. It encompasses approximately 600,000 acres and is mostly desert wilderness. There is evidence of Native Americans from the Kumeyaay and the Cahuilla tribes, inhabited the park. We drove on a four-wheel-drive road to a pictograph. I was able to make the mile hike in which I had to climb over large boulders to see the site. While driving to the pictographs, we found five big horn sheep grazing on the side of the road. We also drove to the town of Julian, founded in the 1870’s as a gold mining town. The gold is no longer mined but the town discovered they can grown apple trees. All the restaurants serve apple pie. We had a great dinner at a small restaurant and the apple pie was delicious.

These are the boulders I had to climb for the pictograph trail