Photo: Boulders on Mastadon Peak Trail

Early in the a.m. we drove from the BLM camp to the border of Joshua Tree NP entrance near Chiriaco Summit. Yeti donned his pack and was going to do the 9.5 miles to Cottonwood Campground to test the waters. I headed back to the café for breakfast and planned to wait there a few hours.

No sooner had I ordered breakfast when Yeti called and asked to be picked up. He had had severe dizziness already and turned back. Most disappointing. The blood pressure problem is persisting. Heartbreaking for Yeti – his dream was to do at least parts of this trail. I’m not sure now if he’ll be able to backpack any of it.

We drove to Cottonwood Campground but were too early to check in, so we did the Mastadon Peak trail. Again, fabulous wildflowers and fascinating rock formations as well as giant palms. Yeti had another severe dizzy spell on this hike. We still had some time so we went to the visitor center and ate our lunch before trying the campground again. This time, the people had left and we moved in! The plan was that I’d hike the next two-day section coming out at Eagle Mt. Road.

Yeti met a great guy called Andy (originally from the UK) who had built a truck and trailer exactly to his specifications so he could travel around and live in it. It was pretty amazing with bed, tons of storage, a heater, kitchen – you name it! He was fun to talk to and of course we invited him to stay in Montana if he headed that way. He was bound for Costa Mesa, CA next day.

Another beautiful night filled with stars.