Summer Hike

 It's no secret that summer hikes in the desert are challenging, to say the least. Daytime highs almost always exceed 100 degrees F. Just too dang hot to hike, and it can be downright dangerous. Heat stroke is a very real threat. But my friend Mitch had an area he wanted to show me that's accessed via Keys View Road. If you take this road all the way to Keys View, you are over 5000' in elevation.

We didn't go all the way to Keys View, and as we started our hike, we were below 5000', but not by too much. Higher elevations in Joshua Tree National Park are not only cooler, but also get a little more moisture. You see Joshua Trees and boulders, but also Pinion Pines and the occasional oak.

One of the highlights of this hike was finding this ridge with a really gorgeous view. It's very similar to what you would see from Keys View (see below).

Above is a screen shot taken from the historic Mission Inn Museum video collection. It's not dated, but what is now called Keys View used to be called inspiration point. It's striking how similar the view is, compared to the view from our unnamed ridge (previous two photos).

Here's Mitch taking a little break and re-hydrating. I pivoted 180 degrees for this photo. The previous photos (view shots) were looking roughly south, and this one more or less north.

And Mitch took this one of me, looking south again, with the view behind me. I like the b&w version a little better.

We started our hike with just a few low clouds on the horizon, but as the day progressed, high clouds moved in and it turned out to be a beautiful sky day!

A nice overview of the terrain covered during our hike.

Finding ways around boulders and scrub was occasionally challenging!

And here's a big bonus: Near the end of our hike, I noticed the moon rising through the cloudy mist! I had my telephoto lens with me, so I made a quick lens change for this shot.

This turned out to be a great hike. Hot, but not nearly as hot as lower elevations, wonderful views, and pretty skies. Shortly after taking the above photo, we were treating to a lightning storm off on the horizon (too far away to hear the thunder), which I posted about here.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!!