Joshua Tree 2017 - II

iv. Panorama Loop Trail

Right at the start of the trail we crossed paths with a local who, to our disappointment, broke the news that we weren't going to have enough time to do the hike. He did offer to lead us to the trailhead though, about another 30 minutes in.

As John led us to the trailhead, he told us stories of how his family got stationed at Joshua Tree back when he was a teenager, which was when he first fell in love with the desert. He also ended up providing us with a quite a Joshua Tree history lesson as we walked and talked.

He told us that the Mormans named the Joshua Tree because the silhouette of the tree reminded them of of a bilical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the air to pray.

He said he hikes the Black Rock trails all the time, sometimes even in the dark.

Black Rock Spring

Exhibit A. This little spring is on the map, but if it hadn't been pointed out to us we would've walked right past it! Plus, it's a little bit darker than it looks in the photo. (Thank you editing skills).

It's been so cold lately that the spring is iced over!

The Trailhead

When we reached the trailhead, there was snow on the side of the path and the moon was just making its way into the sky. This is where our friend John left us to take our pictures and catch our breath before heading back down. He offered to leave arrows for us on the way back so we wouldn't get lost.

Now, if you know either of us, you can guess that getting to the trailhead and having to turn around was just unacceptable. The decision to go onward was unanimous.

Most of the way was covered at a light jog. We wanted to get to the top while we still had a little bit of light. This is the view from the top of Panorama Loop at night.

v. Back to Camp

We decided to head back down after we realized our hands and feet were numb from the cold. Our eyes were pretty adjusted to the dark and we did have flashlights so running down the hill wasn't so bad. We were back at camp in no time.

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