We left San Francisco late on Thursday afternoon, aiming to drive down the coast of Big Sur and find somewhere for the night before continuing on to Joshua tree the next day. Tight on time, it was dark not long after we left Monterey Bay, but we managed to get a fair way before losing the light. Rose found what looked like a nice camp site perched on the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea, and we figured that we could just turn up on a Thursday night and they’d have space. Turns out that this is a pretty popular spot, and all the pitches were officially booked – with paper tags attached to the posts, put there by the campground host. It was 10 pm and a few places were still empty so we took our chances and set up on one of them. Nobody disturbed us, and we woke to an amazing view over the sea. Our pitch was just metres from the edge of the cliff, and we could hear the waves crashing on the rocks below.
The sun started poking its head over the hills in the east as we prepared breakfast, and then once packed up we were off on the long drive across the hills to Joshua tree.
We turned off the coast and headed inland just south of Cambria, scooted down highway 101 for a short distance then continued eastwards on the 58 across miles and miles of hot, dusty, desert.
We were still a way off as we chased our shadow down the road, heading towards Yucca Valley, where a big American burger dinner was followed by a short hunt for a Motel and then some rest.
Next morning we were up early and straight into the park. The scenery changes so quickly as you gain altitude leaving the town of 29 palms, with the Joshua trees being pretty dominant amongst the scrub and smaller, similar looking yucca plants. The rangers at the gate said that all the campgrounds were full, but confident from our previous night’s stealth technique we thought it would be worth checking for ourselves. Yeah, it was pretty busy, but we did manage to find a spare spot, so we set up camp right away and then headed out exploring the park for the rest of the day.
I keep my longboard in the van all the time, and over the past few months we’ve driven along so many awesome skating roads, but I’ve not yet managed to stop. This time I couldn’t resist. “See you at the bottom!” … endless miles of perfect asphalt, hot sunshine, pretty much no traffic – an epic skate.
David had forgotten to bring a sun hat so we fashioned a head scarf that made him look like a real explorer.
I love the big, open, arid spaces of the desert.
The obligatory long-exposure night time shots of the desert, with some loon running around with a torch. It was full moon while we were there, which meant that as the sun went down the moon was rising, which was pretty awesome. And in the morning, the moon was just setting over the west as the new day was starting with the sun rising in the east.
Mum and David planning where their travels will take them next. We left early on the Monday morning and dropped them off in Bakersfield to pick up a rental car while we bombed back to San Francisco.
Road and Ocean 