Thursday 19th May 2011

After leaving cathedral City we took the side roads rather than the interstate which was lovely mandering through the fields then arrived at Joshua National Park about 11:30.  The Ranger at the Visitor Centre was great talking us through the sights in the park.  They couldn't take our credit card to pay for the anual pass to all the National Parks so she said "just go into the visitors centre at the other end and pay there"
We stopped and walked to an Oases and both agreed that this is what we came for.  Joshua has both the Colarado and Mohabi deserts and the transition is remarkable from the hot Colarado to the cooler, higher and damper Mohabi.
We did as we were asked and went to the next Visitor Centre and paid our $80 for the years pass which we will save on the first six parks. Then after being treated to a suggested route to our next three parks backtracked to find our first camp site.
We found our pitch, 120 tent and RV pitches all very secluded each with a picknik table a bar-b-que and a fire pit.  We walked back to the entrance to pay our $10 fee in an envelope through the slit in the safe. Then Judy prepared dinner before we took a 2 mile walk thrugh the desert at sunset, for us absolute blis.  Sorry to the city lovers who suggested places we should go, this is why we hired an RV rather than hotels or motels.  The rock formations here are incredible like gigantic granite marbles piled on top of each other.
So dinner eaten, blog written, will send as soon as we find a McD's  outside the park, so to bed for another day of trecking tomorrow.
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