Hello Everyone!
This week has definitely brought a dramatic change in scenery as I have transitioned from the coast to the desert. It was nice to spend as long as I did cruising down the California coast, but there isn’t a whole lot of the country left south of San Diego so after one last walk on the beach I turned my headlights east. I enjoyed a few days in the Palm Springs area and finished my week in incredible Joshua Tree National Park. It’s been a really good week and I’ve been looking forward to telling you all about it.
Last Thursday I said goodbye to my friend Molly, and headed out to Old Town San Diego. I had been to Old Town before but it’s been a while so I thought maybe I could stop in and take a few photos. When I arrived I realized that my memory wasn’t as clear as I thought it was. There was a lot to see there and I ended up staying for a good chunk of the day. Old Town has a stretch of commercial street which ends at Old Town State Park and the State Park has a ton of historic buildings and plenty of shops as well. There was a woman singing and playing her guitar at the entrance to the State Park and it was beautiful music with a wonderful message of peace and love and I enjoyed sitting and listening to her play for a while. Then I made my way down into the park, poking my head into places and taking some photos. I think my favorite spot was the old tobacco store which looks amazing inside right down to the proprietor who was dressed in period clothes. In his younger days he had been stationed at Quantico for a few years so we chatted about the East Coast a little bit and he let me take a photo of him which I really like. Breaking a bit from the spirit of Old Town I had a fantastic Nepalese lunch at a place called Bhojan Griha a couple of blocks up from the park and it was the most flavorful meal I’ve had in a long time. After lunch I meandered a bit more and took a few more photos. The only bad part about my afternoon was that the sky was so grey. I learned that the locals call the coming time of year the “May Grey” which is followed by the “June Gloom” and that grey skies are not at all uncommon, but it was still a shame that I couldn’t get the photos I wanted with blue skies behind them.
In the late afternoon I headed down to the San Diego waterfront to pay a quick visit to the Maritime Museum there. I had been to this museum a few times, but wanted to revisit one of my favorite ships there, the Star of India. My attention was first called to this ship during my very first season as a tour guide when my two passengers from the Isle of Man (both of whom I saw this past January) told me that this ship had been built on their island. It was built on the Isle of Man in 1863, has circumnavigated the globe 21 times and is considered the world’s oldest active sailing ship. After visiting the Isle of Man this winter, I thought it was appropriate to stop and have another quick look at this beautiful tall ship. From there, I made my way over the amazingly high bridge to Coronado, right across from downtown San Diego but considered a whole different city. I wanted to go and see the Hotel Coronado, the area’s most famous hotel and certainly a San Diego area landmark. Built in 1888, it was the largest wooden structure in the United States until 1944 and it is a stunning building. The general public is more than welcome to visit the lobby, shops, bars, restaurants and beach and I may have taken a quick peak upstairs as well. I enjoyed a quick beer at the old mahogany bar and a lovely stroll along the beach as the sun went down. From there I wandered a few blocks down to the Village Theater and caught the last showing of Air of the day. This is an entertaining movie about the origins of Nike’s Air Jordans and I would have never guessed that a movie about a shoe could be so good. The theater itself was adorable with lit murals on the walls depicting the grand hotel up the street and reasonably priced popcorn to boot. I enjoyed the show and settled in nearby for the night.
Friday morning was bright and sunny in Coronado, so I decided to have one more look at the hotel and beach before taking off. From there I wanted to stop in at La Jolla and take some photos there, but it was simply too crowded and I couldn’t even find a parking spot so I headed on to Carlsbad instead. I had driven through Carlsbad on my way south and it looked like a beautiful little town, but under the grey skies I had just kept on driving. On Friday the skies were clear and blue so I went back to Carlsbad to snap some photos and check out the town. It’s a clean and friendly city with a beautiful beach and a compact and charming downtown. There are some amazing historic buildings and some cool newer ones as well. I enjoyed poking around and taking some photos and even stopped for a delicious superfood smoothie along the way – when in Southern California, right? It actually left me feeling pretty good and it was tasty as well. I decided it was too late in the day to head off into the desert, so I looked around to see what was happening in Carlsbad on a Friday night. As it turned out, Constantine Maroulis was playing in the next town over on his Foreigner’s Journey tour which is a tribute to these two classic 1980s bands. Maroulis got to the top ten on American Idol a number of years ago, but I know him because my very good friend Jason is his manager so I decided to head out there and catch the show. The Moonlight Amphitheater in Vista is a wonderful little venue and I packed a picnic dinner and enjoyed it on the upper lawn as the sun went down and the show got started. When I finished my food, I headed down to the stage to be closer to the action. I was surprised at how many of the songs I knew, and I loved that they also threw in some Toto, Queen and Bon Jovi as well. I wasn’t the youngest person there because some people brought their kids, but I was close. I got a real kick when Maroulis talked about his Greek heritage and that it was actually Good Friday in the Eastern Orthodox tradition (which I share). I don’t think anyone else there really understood what he meant, but I appreciated it. It was a good show and afterwards I found a nice little nook to tuck into and get a good night’s sleep.
On Saturday I was up early and headed off into the desert. It was sad to say goodbye to the coast, but it was time that I moved on. I had a beautiful drive up and over the mountains before descending into the Coachella Valley on the other side. The desert wildflowers were in bloom, and there was still plenty of snow on the mountains in the background. I got to Palm Desert in the late morning and had a bunch of things I needed to do from laundry to making some reservations for the next little stretch so I didn’t get into too much other than that during the day. After dinner I went to see Creed III at the local theater and thought the acting was excellent and it was a pretty decent boxing movie in the Rocky franchise. After the movie I made my way to St. George Orthodox Church right there in Palm Desert for the evening service. I’m sure those of you who have been following this journey for a while remember that we sometimes celebrate Easter on a different day in the Orthodox tradition, but for those of you who don’t know or remember that, check out *******THIS POST**** I wrote about it a few years ago. The church was small but bright and pleasant and about a hundred people showed up for the midnight service. They moved it right along and the whole thing was over by about 1am, far earlier than I’m used to. It was good to be there, though, and after a cup of decaf and a couple of cookies in the church annex I called it a night.
I got up a little late on Sunday and spent the morning chatting with family and relaxing. I wanted to go to the pool, but it was only open for lap swimming so I headed to the library instead. I got a little bit of work done and then drove over to downtown Palm Springs. It’s definitely cool to drive down palm lined streets with my windows down and see snow up on the mountains. I stopped in for a very quick Tiki drink at The Bootlegger which is housed in an old location of Don the Beachcomber. Then I went for a nice long stroll around the downtown area, stopping for one of Palm Springs’ famous date shakes (the area is a top date producer for the country). It was significantly better than garlic ice cream. I wandered into the casino for a little while and then called it a night.
I spent Monday morning out in the Indian Canyons which are on the reservation of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. This is a gorgeous tribal park and I started off with an amazing 3 mile hike in Palm Canyon which is a stunning palm oasis to walk through. It really feels like you are walking somewhere far more exotic than the California desert and I loved every minute of it. Afterwards, I drove back down the main canyon and did a one mile loop in Andreas Canyon which was absolutely full of wildflowers in bloom (and second graders as well). I took a lot of photos and was glad I could help out a few folks who didn’t know what one mile in the desert can feel like. Personally I enjoyed feeling the baking heat on my skin – there’s just something so raw and powerful about being in the desert and it’s a landscape I’ve come to truly love over the last 23 years. Of course I had the right clothes and a nice wide-brimmed hat and plenty of water which always helps. After lunch at the trailhead, I headed back into Palm Springs for a quick shower and to grab a few groceries and then I headed out of town.
From there I made my way out to Pioneertown which was about 45 minutes away. Pioneertown was once a Hollywood movie set (albeit with people living in the houses and working in the shops), and many old westerns were filmed there. Gene Autry filmed many of his movies in Pioneertown. Today you can still wander the streets and there are some shops and restaurants as well which are mainly open on the weekend. My interest in Pioneertown comes from my very favorite song in the whole world – Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby by Counting Crows. One of the lines in the song states “we drive out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars; we stand up in The Palace like it’s the last of the great Pioneertown bars”. When I was on Whiskey Row in Prescott last winter, I had a drink in an old western bar there called The Palace and I got curious and looked it up to see if this was the pioneer town bar they were referring to. It turned out it wasn’t and there was actually a place called Pioneertown and from then on I had it in my sights. Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace only dates back to 1982, but that makes it over forty years old at this point. It’s a classic desert biker bar type place which hosts live music on the weekends. It was way busier than I imagined it would be on a Monday afternoon, and I enjoyed some of their delicious tri-tip chili nachos which had to be eaten with a fork. I was definitely happy to be there and tick it off of my list. From there it was only about 20 minutes to Black Rock Campground high above Joshua Tree National Park which is where I stayed the night. It’s always great to be back in among the Mojave Desert’s signature trees and since the campground is up at 4000’ it was significantly cooler than it was down in the Coachella Valley.
I spent all of Tuesday in Joshua Tree, exploring parts of the park I had never visited before. I started the day with a nice four mile hike in the Black Rock area near my campground and then headed for the main part of the park. I did shorter hikes at Hidden Valley and Barker Dam and then finished my day with a 3 mile climb up Ryan Mountain, one of the higher hikeable mountains in the park. It was great to be able to do so much hiking in one day, and while it left me tired it also left me feeling pretty good about myself. I headed off to Jumbo Rocks Campground for the night and watched the sun set from my campsite.
I got up this morning and had my breakfast and then headed back out into the park. I set off on an awesome 6+ mile hike around the Lost Horse Mine loop which took me to an old gold stamp mill which was active right up until the park was established in 1936. While it’s fenced off for safety, the structure is in pretty good shape and I enjoyed the history behind it. The hike was very quiet and quite windy in places, but ended with an awesome stretch of trail through a valley surrounded by beautiful Joshua Trees. I know I’ve taken enough Joshua Tree photos in my life to fill a dozen albums, but that didn’t stop me from taking plenty more while I was out there. I had a snack and then went out to see Arch Rock which was somewhat disappointing but probably just because I’ve seen so many fantastic arches in my life. Then I stopped briefly to see the Oasis of Mara, a small palm oasis, on my way out of the park. I’ve tucked myself into the library at Twentynine Palms to finish up this newsletter and catch my breath after a wonderful three days in the park.
So that’s about what I’ve been up to this week. It’s great to be back in the desert and I’m happy to see my tan returning. I looked very closely at my idea to head into Arizona and Utah for the next couple of weeks, but the high desert is still snowed in and many of the things I was hoping to do just aren’t going to work on this trip. On top of that, I know that my first trip when I go back to work will take me to all of those parks and even though I won’t be able to do the hikes I had hoped to do, it seems a bit silly to go out there right now. So I’m doubling back into California this week and hope to get up into the mountains around Big Bear Lake and Arrowhead Lake before starting north along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. I’ve got just under a month before I have to be back in San Francisco for work, and I’m hoping the snow is clearing out of Northern California so I can see a bit more up there before my time is up. I hope to be making my way into the mountains by this time next week and I sure hope you’ll come back and see what I get into between now and then. Have a great week out there and thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike
Hiking the Lost Horse Loop Trail