[gal://2008/joshua_tree_06_07_2008/022_mark_and_don_20080607.jpg] Mark\nand I took a trip to Joshua Tree over the previous weekend. We hiked\nin towards Pine City on Friday night and set up the tent near the edge\nof the day use area. It took us about 10 minutes of wandering in the\ndark with head lamps to find an area that was far enough off the trail\nand appeared to be flat and rock-free enough to set up a tent. Mark\nhappened to find a miniature cholla cactus in the dark and of course\nmanaged to stab himself with it, which added to the excitement of\nsetting up the tent.\n\n[gal://2008/joshua_tree_06_07_2008/panorama_1.jpg] When the sun came\nup the next day, we were finally able to see where we had actually set\nup camp. A series of amazing bolders were to the south east of our\ncampsite, and we spent some time in the morning exploring them as we\nfinished off our slightly smushed pop tarts.\n\n[gal://2008/joshua_tree_06_07_2008/040_trees_and_rocks_20080607.jpg]\nWe then packed up the tent and our bags and took off to see Pine City\nitself (which is in the day use area). It appears to be called that\nbecause of a few ancient conifers which have managed to survive in the\ndesert, though I'm only guessing based on what I saw.\n\n[gal://2008/joshua_tree_06_07_2008/066_our_campsite_20080608.jpg]\nFrom Pine City, we took off cross country heading north-west towards\nQueen Mountain, where we wandered around through a ton of gullies and\ndry washes. (Note of caution: be very careful in areas like this\nduring the rainy season. Rain miles away can cause flash floods.)\nEventually we found a neat place to camp around noon a bit south east\nof Queen Mountain.\n\n\n[gal://2008/joshua_tree_06_07_2008/058_mark_squeezing_through_20080607.jpg]\nWe set up the tent, dropped off the packs and then went wandering\naround to boulder some of the neat rock formations and lollygag about\nlooking at the neat scenery. During this entire time, the only\nevidence of humans we had seen were a few footprints on the trail into\nPine City, a couple balloons in advanced decomposition, and a single\nglint off a car windshield more than 10 miles in the distance.\n\nThe next day, we hiked back to the car, and drove back into\nciviliation. It's been a while since I've been to Joshua Tree, but\nI've remembered now why I like the place. It's really hard to beat for\ngetting away from human presence into a relatively pristine\nenvironment. [The closer to summer you go, the harder it is to handle,\nand consequently, the fewer people you're going to see.]\n\n