2024-03-17 to 21 - Picture is at Samuelson's Rocks, the First Message
Karin and her husband Jim came to visit us in Joshua Tree. We had lunch at a Farmer’s Market and then did a hike in JTNP to Samuelson’s Rocks. Samuelson carved eccentric sayings into the rocks (circa 1920s) and the location has become kind of a destination. It was just fun to be hiking in the park again.
We stayed for 2 nights in 29 Palms and found a great restaurant there: Kitchen in the Desert. The food was exceptional – kind of Caribbean in style. We had Jerk Chicken and a veggie dish, Market Vegetables, that had a terrific tahini garlic sauce.
Off to Tecopa where we hiked on the Desert Trail route south along the Amargosa River. We did an 8 mile RT hike directly out from our favorite Kit Fox Café, a café we found two years ago when we were through here. Luckily it is still there and the couple seem to be doing well. We also met a great person, Danna, who is working remotely and traveling in a Subaru with one of the on top of the car tents!
Danna told us to check out the China Date Ranch and their remarkable Date Shakes. So, after lunch at the café, we drove to the China Ranch. Several trails head out toward the river from the ranch, so we walked down to the river and discovered that on our morning walk we had almost walked as far as the ranch. Yeti will waypoint this – anyone doing the Desert Trail can easily go one mile up the trail and feast on these remarkable date milk-shakes. We shared one after the short hike and it was really good. They also sell all sorts of goodies made with dates and fresh dates, of course.
Today (Thursday) we drove down to Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley with a stop at Badwater to see the lake. We walked out about half a mile. The lake extended all the way over to the edge of the mountains, where the Desert Trail went by. In fact, I’m sure it would have been under water for a good distance. Finally checked into our room at about 3:45pm. Tomorrow we plan to do a hike in Golden Canyon. We have two nights here at the lodge. I’ll celebrate my 70th birthday here tomorrow.