Monday, February 25, 2013

Joshua Tree: Burnt Hills & Canyon View Trails

What a beautiful day for hiking. Instead of yesterday, where the wind howled and where I wore five layers, today was shorts weather.

Today we did a nice 8-mile hike with 1300 foot elevation gain. We started on the California Riding and Hiking Trail, and caught the Cliff View Trail from it. Then we caught the Eureka View Trail, and returned on the Burnt Hills and Black Rock Canyon trails.

The Cliff View Trail is not named on the hiking map we got from the Ranger Station, but is, oddly, contained on it in light print. We don't understand why the map is constructed in this way. A complaint we have about the National Forest/Parks/Monuments system is that there is no systematization as to how hikes are listed or described.

The Cliff View trail was fun. It climbed a bit at first, and at the end went through a slot canyon--these are rare and always fun. Here is Vicky at that place:





Sadly, we also went through some more burn places. We have seen these all over the National Park system.


It was a beautiful day. Tomorrow's hike is the one we are looking forward to with great anticipation.








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