Expect the unexpected, and when ever possible be the unexpected.

Lynda Berry

Our furthest point west, Joshua Tree National Park, California! Established in 1936; this park is where the Mojave and Colorado deserts converge. The Mojave Desert is the western part of the park at elevations above 3000 ft. The Colorado desert is the eastern half of the park which is below 3000ft.

An interesting fact, is that I kept wondering why the vegetation was so incredibly varied in different parts of the park. Apparently when you see the wild-armed Joshua tree, which is actually a species of Yucca, you are in the Mojave Desert. The higher elevation and the only area the Joshua tree grows.

Here we are looking forward to some good California sunshine and warmth. Now, depending on how you look at it we can consider ourselves really lucky or really unfortunate as we had snow!! We stayed at the higher elevation in Black Rock Campground😊.

Our first night had high winds with gust up to 80 miles/hour. You know it’s bad when you are getting weather alerts in emails and texts from the park! It was so bad, we thought Winnie was going to tip. Both mornings we woke up to snow; which most people say is rare. Since there is more storm weather coming through, we cancelled our third night and got a refund the day to boot!

We did get to explore all the park we wanted to. We hiked the Hi-View Trail and nearly blew off the top; the things we do for a picture. We drove the scenic loop with many stops along the way to discover and of course take pictures. The Keys View was a scenic overlook that had a view of San Bernardino Mountains; the Coachella Valley, and the San Andreas Fault.

We were intrigued by some of the rock formations and the shapes of the Joshua Tree. We truly enjoyed Indian Cove and the nature trail there. Although all these were great to see and do, my favorite part of the park was the Cholla Cactus Garden (lower elevation). Even in the rain and snow, this was a beautiful park. So every time I hear the song “ It never rains in southern California” I will always think of the snow.

Thank you to our California friends who suggested coming here. Would I go back you ask? In a heart beat.