• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Joshua Tree National Park

ITK

ITK

the desert dwarf
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
7,432
Reaction score
1,104
Anyone been in? Is it worth it to visit?
 
i think it's awesome and beautiful, but you have to appreciate harsh/stark natural settings. it's not grand and dramatic like zion or bryce and i could definitely see some people showing up with the reaction of "...this is it?"
 
This park is as remote as you can get. However, some of the vistas and scenics views you will see will rival those anywhere else. This is as close to Mars type terrain you can get in the Southwest. Back in 2006, I spent 4 summer months in Twentynine Palms in the same area as this park training for my deployment to Iraq, and if you want the closest analog to Iraq type conditions, this is it. A few years later went back to the park to climb/scramble and camp in early winter. Had a great time. At night, you will likely notice the milkyway and more stars than you will likely have ever seen. Zion, Bryce, and Red Rocks are great, but if you want desolate, this is where you will find it.
 
lbE08 said:
i think it's awesome and beautiful, but you have to appreciate harsh/stark natural settings. it's not grand and dramatic like zion or bryce and i could definitely see some people showing up with the reaction of "...this is it?"
Click to expand...

Very accurate description. I loved hiking there, but I do recommend not wearing shorts while doing so if it is a windy day. My sister ended up with a piece of cholla cactus impaled on her leg when it blew off one of the bushes. :eek:
 
You could always leave your BF in the desert and go shopping at the outlet mall near Palm Springs.
 
ITK said:
Its deleted now.
Click to expand...

Whaaat, still showing up for me. Ah well.

you and me and a Joshua tree.

This morning she's whispering to me and desiring to make a declaration of her presence. In her distinct voice, so much more impassioned and alive than my own, she reaches out to be heard.

She wants to tell you that you are the breath that gives sound to her voice and the fire that burns within her soul. She wants to shake me awake so I could be one with her, so I could step fully into her her skin, and know the truth and beauty of a life realized at last.

I want to get out of her way. I have stolen her voice and kept it shackled in chains, I've tied it down with inhibition and fears of annihilation. It's me who has clipped her wings and denied her flight into the ether which holds the fragments of our hearts and lost days that ache to be remembered.

She's begging me to let go and live without the fear that binds me to dark shadows that will never bear the truth for me to bare the truth.

You, my love, are in us and out of us, and the thing that would bind us together. Me and she, the truth that longs to just be free.

She hopes that she is heavy upon you, but that you would feel her lightly, as a tingle in your spine and radiating warmth that would fill your belly and your bones. I want you to feel it too as a gentle tugging on your heart that draws you closer. She hopes that her voice is a whisper, ever present, in the back of your mind.

She's begging me to move and let go and to stop denying her nakedness. I want to step out of the fear to claim it. I ache to have you claim it. All of me and all of her.

I'm thinking of your arms today and in my heart and my mind you're holding me and not letting go. I'm thinking of hoped for moments of holding hands and shared quiet kisses.

I have a vision of meeting you in the desert, and making love under a Joshua tree while you whisper all of your long held secrets into my ear. Will you keep them for me? We both believe that our heart is the one that would hold them for you.

I'm praying for her, and me, and you. I'm praying that tomorrow or maybe even later today it might hurt a little less, or maybe I would finally gain a deeper understanding of what it's supposed to mean.

i miss you
i love you
me


........(((((<3)))))......:)

oh i love you so! thank you for making me smile.....:)
Click to expand...

beautiful, touching.
 
Last edited:
lbE08 said:
i think it's awesome and beautiful, but you have to appreciate harsh/stark natural settings. it's not grand and dramatic like zion or bryce and i could definitely see some people showing up with the reaction of "...this is it?"
Click to expand...

In other words, this is the perfect venue for ITK and El Chupe to make love for the first time.
 
I don't know the exact number but it's somewhere around 50. I just like them I guess.
 
WakeForestRanger said:
I don't think I've ever had this reaction to visiting any National Park.
Click to expand...

right, but if you're the kind of person that seeks out trips to national parks, i wouldn't expect this reaction of you.
there are definitely a ton of mouthbreathers in the world that roll up in their Yukon, pry their kids away from the TVs installed in the backs of the seats, and expect to be entertained. when they've "seen it", they're looking around for the penny-press souvineir machines and ice cream stands. I'm being honest that at J-Tree, these types of people would not be impressed.
 
One of the greatest things about national parks is the experience of seeing how completely diverse the landscape of our country is. I love that there are parks in this country that have such incredible expanses and views that your mind can barely process what it is seeing.
 
I've been to a lot of national parks, and it's about my least favorite. It's pretty though. I hear it's a big climbing park (I'm a hiker, not a climber). that said, the first half of the boy scout trail was pretty (from the south). I wish we had turned around once we got to the wide open field, we hiked an extra 6ish boring miles instead of doing some rock scrambling.

I'd go to death valley instead, if I was in that area.

Edit to add: I love the desert, I'd just rather go to Utah or SW CO
 
Last edited:
Was there briefly in early spring 2010 and loved it. Very stark but beautiful landscape. I can see how it might be an acquired taste for some. It's not Disney. If I were young and without a family, I'd love to live in that part of the country.

Skull Rock was pretty cool.

There happens to be a pretty decent cafe near near the visitor's center, right off the highway there. Worth a stop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top