Quartzsite to Julian

We are waking up in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California this morning. It is crisp. It is clear. It is completely quiet. But best of all it is California sunshine on our backs as we take our old boy for his morning amble. We drove down from Arizona last night leaving the dust of Quartzsite behind us.

QUARTZSITE

This was one of the places that came up over and over again when I was researching where to go and what to do while in the USA. It is a phenomenon; a tiny town of 3,500 people in August which becomes Arizona’s fourth biggest city in January. There are RVs parked cheek to jowl for miles and miles. There are tent cities supplying every possible need. There are areas where you can park for free and others where it is a dollar a day. People set up camp with the friends they have been meeting here for 10 years and create ephemeral desert gardens others join jam sessions or line dancing groups across the expanded mobile metropolis.

It was dusty, a bit scruffy but surprisingly free of litter. We were able to park close to the “Big Tent Show “ and went to see the custom cars and hot rods on show. There were no parking charges or admittance charges, no officious little people waving pointing and holding things up. No policemen were on traffic duty. We did see a Quartzsite police car, which comes with a spectacular paint job that would suit an American stock car, but it was parked outside a doughnut stand. Everything seemed self policing, good natured and it just worked.






The hot rods were spectacular and I have included pics. of some of my favourites.


We came across a potential replacement for the Trek, at least in Carol’s mind. These are available in kit form, sleep two and have a cooker and sink in the back. Who needs anything more. [ ME!]

Many of the stands concentrated on stones for jewellery and the ancillary components for that was the original purpose of the gathering. You could buy a giant sectioned geode for 15,000$ or a polished stone egg for 50 cents. Some traders were only there for the weekend, others arrived in November and would leave in May.

As a result of Carol’s hard work we now have customised semi precious stone key fobs hanging on our rack.

We are staying some nights on BLM [Bureau of Land Management ] land. They have so much low grade land here that the government stepped in and took over ownership. People are allowed to use it for free or a peppercorn rent. We have spent some really peaceful nights out in the lonely desert.

Joshua Tree National Park is about 20 miles wide and 40 miles long. We could spend a week here and still have stuff to see. We walked down into the Cottonwood Oasis and thought of how many thirsty people and animals over the centuries would have been relieved to get here and find that the wells still ran clear and cool.

We drove across the park which takes you up about 2000 feet in altitude and this changes the type of desert from Mohabe to Colorado. The vegetation changes were very evident especially in the spectacular Cholla garden. We walked around the garden and marvelled at how a tiny change in elevation and exposure could bring about a total domination by one species. We have a piece of Cholla skeleton as decoration in the Trek.

Salton Sea We drove down from the Park to this accidental sea. In 1905 a section of a canal bank gave way and over the next two years the Colorado river flowed into this long dry lake bed 250 feet below sea level. They fixed the bank but the water has hung around being replenished by the run off from local farms who irrigate very extensively. The level is dropping, the lake is getting saltier but it still supports huge barnacle, fish and bird populations It was great but we had a date with some wolves in a small town called Julian.

KQ Ranch Campground Friday the 8th of February. We arrived in Julian to see snow on the roadside and then at the campground snow beside our site. There had been 8 inches last week. The campground is next to the wolf refuge and it seemed OK when we looked at it on the Internet but it does not look so good on the ground.

California Wolf Refuge We visited the wolf refuge and came away with mixed feelings. The centre is certainly doing good work in providing a home for the remnants of the Mexican Wolf population. Their education program must be doing some good but our heart went out to the group of wolves living in a small enclosure with little room to roam. A couple of them were strikingly like Charro.





We will look around Julian tomorrow then head down to the border.

We are hoping to cross over into Mexico Tuesday or Wednesday and head down the Baja with Ensenada as our first town and first chance to find an internet connection.