Joshua Tree Backpacking Adventure

Over President’s Day Weekend, Shoestring Adventures went backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua Tree is located in Southern California where the Mojave and the Colorado deserts meet, producing a unique landscape with a rich diversity of life. Most famously, Joshua Trees grow throughout the park, playfully greeting visitors with their crooked arms. February is typically a pleasant time of year to visit when the weather is cool and desert wildflowers are beginning to bloom.

Inevitably with all the recent rainfall in Southern California, flash flood warnings threatened to ruin our trip. Thanks to the flexibility of our Shoestring Warriors, we decided to wait out the storm and hike into the backcountry on Sunday morning when blue skies prevailed.

We backpacked approximately 7-miles on the Boy Scout Trail from Indian Cove to our campsite, where we had previously stashed water. After dropping our packs, we hiked to Willow Hole in the Wonderland of Rocks, stream-hopping and arriving at the abundant oasis just before sunset, a rare and spectacular site.

On Monday, we hiked back out, spotting a few early desert wildflowers blooms. We gathered at Crossroads Cafe in Joshua Tree to celebrate our safe and successful crossing of the desert.

Special thanks to Trip Leader Graham and Shoestring Warriors Allison, Curtis, John, Ari and Sam for joining us on this adventure. Triptographer Shani Leead joined us to capture the memories. Here is a recap of the trip through her lens.

Photos © 2017 Shani Leead

 

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