After a short stretch on Interstate 10 we turned north onto highway 62 towards Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree, from where we would then enter Joshua Tree National Park. The force of the headwind was worrysome, especially since Sharon had said that it was like that every day. Does that mean headwind for the next week or just in this valley?! No please no!
Thankfully by the afternoon we had reached Yucca Valley and the wind had subsided for the most part! So grateful! Unfortunately we received a message from our Warmshowers host in Joshua Tree that he was still out of town and thus could not host us. We were a bit disappointed about that but o well.Somewhat unsure of what to do we just went to the Park's visitor info center where we met another touring cyclist, Eric, who was on his way to meet some friends who were camping in the park. He invited us to come along. Great!
Aside from cool company there was another benefit to riding with Eric: he had a National Parks Pass with which he was allowed to bring up to three other people into the park for free! Yay! Thanks Eric!
It was getting dark quickly and we still had a ways to go to reach the campground so we had no time to stop for photos but I will never forget the magical landscape we rode through that evening. Joshua trees are bizarre looking regardless of the time of day but as silouettes against the evening sky their appearance reaches its height of fear inducing, awe inspiring beauty. Meanwhile the mountains in the east reflected the western sky making it seem as though they were emitting residual light that they had accumulated during the day. The sky resembled a living watercolour painting with soft yellows, blues, pinks and purples blending into each other. I regret not having been able to get any photos of all this but at the same time I doubt my camera could have done it justice.
Thankfully by the afternoon we had reached Yucca Valley and the wind had subsided for the most part! So grateful! Unfortunately we received a message from our Warmshowers host in Joshua Tree that he was still out of town and thus could not host us. We were a bit disappointed about that but o well.Somewhat unsure of what to do we just went to the Park's visitor info center where we met another touring cyclist, Eric, who was on his way to meet some friends who were camping in the park. He invited us to come along. Great!
Aside from cool company there was another benefit to riding with Eric: he had a National Parks Pass with which he was allowed to bring up to three other people into the park for free! Yay! Thanks Eric!
It was getting dark quickly and we still had a ways to go to reach the campground so we had no time to stop for photos but I will never forget the magical landscape we rode through that evening. Joshua trees are bizarre looking regardless of the time of day but as silouettes against the evening sky their appearance reaches its height of fear inducing, awe inspiring beauty. Meanwhile the mountains in the east reflected the western sky making it seem as though they were emitting residual light that they had accumulated during the day. The sky resembled a living watercolour painting with soft yellows, blues, pinks and purples blending into each other. I regret not having been able to get any photos of all this but at the same time I doubt my camera could have done it justice.
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