A desert destination for winter desolation

I went to Joshua Tree National Park this weekend with Scott and Shanna for a short trip. It was my first time camping in the winter.

landscape, desert brush in the foreground some larger rocks, hoodoos, in the background

It got down to 32F in the evening and Shanna drove through a snow storm on her way out. Luckily, the snow didn’t hit our part of the park. Even though it was cold, once we got inside our tents the wind was blocked so it felt ok. Plus we have down sleeping bags.

Scott in a coat near our picnic bench on the bottom of the photo, the landscape (big rocks, joshua trees, and a low mountain) in taking up most of the photo — Our campsite seen from above, about where our tent was

Shanna on an arched rock stepping onto the main rock — Shanna, doing the world’s most dangerous jump on the rocks near our campsite

It’s a smaller park with a lot of short trails that we went on on the day we arrived (it’s a 2.5-3 hour drive from LA).

In the morning we went up the Ryan Mountain Trail, which is steep, but short and well maintained. Because it we’re going in the winter, it pretty empty the whole time we were there.

landscape view of the top of the Ryan Mountain Train. Colorful brush on the ground with blue mountains in the background

Scott at the top of the mountain. Gray rocky ground with brown and blue mountains in the distance

Scott made ribs again and we tried pizza Pringles. They tasted mostly like paprika.

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