Joshua Tree
A day before the ride, chillin at a little house in the desert.
I spent a few days with the family exploring Joshua Tree national park, cactus groves, rock formations, hikes, and other fun things there. When we go on a trip like this I’ll plan one ride day starting early before everyone wakes up. I had a tough time sleeping, so this one started a bit too early.
At 5:30am it was still very dark and I couldn’t really see the road. However, the asphalt was in good condition and it was an almost entirely straight, gradual climb. There was very little traffic into the park at that hour, so I slowly climbed onward into the dark.
Looking back down the hill on 29 Palms. Early in the climb up Utah trail/Park blvd.
DISTANCE
22.4 MI
ELEVATION
2000 ft
RIDE TIME
1h 49m
Getting up early paid off in the form of an epic sunrise. Eventually I found an old dirt mining road that I wish I could have spent more time on, but I planned to be back for breakfast so I had to turn around after a few miles. It was truly surreal riding on endless routes into the stark desert landscape.
The return trip was entirely downhill for a solid 15 minutes above 30mph. My hands began to freeze from the windchill, which was kind of an odd thing to happen in the desert.
This was one of the best trips we’ve had in SoCal. I can’t wait to go back and spend more time there. One ride wasn’t nearly enough.