Home again!

The long slog home.  By now we know the route by heart, and actually have some hard-to-explain affection for it.

 Here is a "numbers" report on our trip.  We are providing these because other people might want to consider what we are doing as an option for them (actually, this is one of the reasons we write our blog).  We see so few people out where we are, but believe many others would love it.

So, here they are:

Days gone:  139

Total expenses:  $2300 (add another $500 if one includes a replacement tire).  This includes gasoline, propane, camping fees, water, trash disposal, ferry fees, etc.  This works out to about $16/day.   This doesn't include food, which would be the same regardless of where we were living.

      --in other words, this way of living is very inexpensive.

Miles driven:  5751.  By far the fewest miles of any of our road trips.  2700 are miles from our home to the desert and back, which means about 3000 in the other 130 days.    The reason for driving so few miles is that we frequently stayed in one place for several days--sometimes for almost two weeks.  In other words, even driving from a far away location to the southwest doesn't put many miles on one's vehicle.

 Average gasoline price:  $2.45  THANK YOU inexpensive gasoline.  It would have been an even lower average except we were in California most of the time, and frequently in places in California where gasoline prices are even higher than average for that state.

Average gas mileage:   10.25/gallon.  It's a guzzler, all right, but our total energy consumption was very low.  We used 561 gallons of gas (4+ gallons a day) and 40 gallons of propane.  About 600 gallons of petroleum used for 20 weeks.  The average home heating using propane is about a gallon an hour.  This is approximately what heating with natural gas works out to as well.  In other words, we used about the equivalent of two days worth of petroleum products other than gasoline in our 20 weeks.  

Water usage:  This is another measure of energy use.  We could get by with under a gallon a day each.  The average American family uses 400 gallons per day.  Almost all of our water was for drinking.  One can keep very clean with baby wipes and spit washes.  And we can take a shower, when we need it, using under a gallon of water. 

Electrical consumption:  Zero.  Two solar panels, and a solar powered shower bag.

Overall, even with driving this gas guzzler we are extremely energy efficient. 

Hiking miles:  554

Hiking elevation gain: 12.45 (this is the number of miles we hiked up.........and of course also down)

Hiking time:  This is kind of tricky to determine.  We have two times.  One is the amount of time from the start of a hike to the end of it.  This includes stops for photos, for deciding on a trail, and for eating (although we rarely took a lunch break, just stopping to pull a few snacks from the back pack).  The second time is time spent moving.    Both seem relevant, as even when not moving we are standing, carrying a 15-25 pound pack, etc.  We decided the best reflection of time spent hiking was averaging these two numbers.  This works out to 283 hours.  A little over two hours a day over the course of the entire 20 weeks.

This, for us, was the most important piece of data of all, and one of the main reasons for choosing this lifestyle.  We can keep our bodies moving and working an average of two hours a day during the winter.  In our mid to late 60s, this matters a lot.

This road trip is the longest stretch we have been gone from home.  Other road trips have lasted longer, in total, but we used to come home in the middle of them.  

We are so unbelievably compatible about our travels.  (you have to be in order to live 20 weeks in the bed of a pickup camper).   When one of us feels we have exhausted the possibilities of one of the places we are camping it seems the other is also at that same place, so we leave.  We had planned on staying one more day in Twentynine Palms, CA, but both decided to leave.

We left the dry, sunny desert, and returned home to wet, rainy Washington.  It is beautiful here.  We are so very happy to be home, and are looking forward to seeing our families and experiencing another spring on Whidbey Island.

 

 

We hike 100 Miles in Joshua Tree in 2016 AND GET NUMBER STICKERS!!!!!

Joshua Tree National Park is having a promotion of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park System.  If you hike 100 miles in 2016 you get a sticker.

So, of course, not being at all competitive people, we decided we'd try for it.  And we did it! 

We finally get numbers!!!!!

 

Actually, one of our friends from the Twenty-nine Palms RV Resort is a volunteer at the park, and he gave us our stickers.

They will look nice on our camper!  It was fun.

Tips on how to do the Porcupine Wash to Ruby Lee Mill Loop Hike: Joshua Tree National Park

This is a hike described in Patty Furbish's excellent book On Foot in Joshua Tree National Park. However, she describes taking the hike in a counter clockwise fashion.  We did it clockwise.

In addition, because the hike is approximately 10 miles long, and because there are no trail markers (and, in fact, there is no real trail) some parts of the hike could be fairly challenging.  There are at least three canyons that one can access from the trail head, the road trails get harder to locate and follow each year because they are being claimed by nature, and one part of the hike involves about a mile of winding through high rocky areas where you have to find your own way.   We thought some additional information might be helpful to anyone attempting this hike. 

The Furbish book was last revised in 2005, making even the hikes that are newer additions potentially somewhat dated.  Some of the trail markings she describes for this hike are nowhere to be found (a barrow pit, stakes, etc.).

We would not recommend this hike unless you felt as if you had 10 miles of hiking for a day in you, more if you would get lost for awhile.  In addition, we relied heavily on our GPS which had the location of the Ruby Lee Mill on it.  We would not recommend this hike unless you had a GPS.

Here is the hike we are describing here, in black with red arrows.  The red lines and solid black/gray lines are from other hikes we have taken in this area, including the six-mile round trip hike directly to Ruby Lee Mill.

Here is what the area looks like without the markings of the trails we have taken.  Fifty years go the road trail presented in yellow dashes would make this a fairly straightforward hike.  However, the road trail is gone in places and hard to locate in other places. 



So why do this hike?  Several reasons.  One is that the canyon you walk through at the beginning is lovely.  The route through Porcupine Wash (bottom of the trail map) is incredible. A wide, beautiful valley.  The road trail on the left of the map heading north shows wonderful views, the tall hills with boulders at the top left of the trail are fun to work your way through, the mill itself is interesting, and the road trail back to the trail head is much easier to find going west to east than east to west.  Lots of different terrain and, important to us at least, it is unlikely you will run into other hikers.  You feel all alone with just the Joshua Tree desert.


First, coordinates of the Ruby Lee Mill.  Program them into your GPS.



Finding the correct canyon:

This map shows the correct route from the trail head (the Backcountry Board along the highway).  It is marked in yellow.

The spot marked "Canyon" is where the canyon begins. It is almost exactly a mile from the Back Country Board.

The GPS coordinates are the following:

 

Be careful not to head too far to the East and find yourself on the route in red on the right.  The critical juncture is circled in yellow below.  Follow the black route, not the red one that goes directly south.

 

After walking a mile through this canyon you will enter a large open area between two mountain ranges.  You will follow the wash marked in yellow below.  It is 3.7 miles from the spot marked "Canyon" to the end of the yellow route.  This would be 4.7 miles from the trailhead.  This is the well known Porcupine Wash.






There is some mild boulder scrambling.  Pretty easy as this kind of thing goes, and not much of it.



At this point (4.7 miles from the trail head/Back Country Board) you will see an old mining road on the hillside to your right.  Here are the GPS Coordinates:



Here is an enlargement of this area.  It is easy to miss if you aren't watching the mile marker on your GPS and are not looking at the hillside.  Easy to miss because it doubles back behind you.

 
 This road trail is very nice and easy to follow for awhile.



 

Here is Vicky on this road trail.  We are heading toward the far horizon on it.



The road trail goes about 1.2 miles NNW.  As you can see, we lost it at that point, or think we did.  There were cairns in the area, but we couldn't follow them, and perhaps missed them.  Cairns are easy to miss unless they are very large in a desert that is filled with rocks.  They don't stand out.

We overshot the "road," because we found we were on another old mining road.  There are mining roads everywhere, many no longer on maps.  But because we had our GPS we could tell after awhile that we were heading in the wrong direction.  We turned around, set a bearing toward the Ruby Lee Mill using our GPS, and wandered around in rocks and hills in that direction.  This is the point of the hike where we would have been lost without the GPS.    If there was a road at one time, it was long gone.


We did see a deer, though, our first ever in Joshua Tree National Park.  A large buck.




From the Mill, it is a fairly straight shot back to the Back Country Board.  There is an old mining road trail which is hard to see sometimes.  But just keep walking down if you lose it, and eventually you will get to the highway.

We hope this information adds to what you can get from hiking books if you decide to try this hike.

We enjoyed it a lot.  Hope you do too.

Pushawalla Plateau: Joshua Tree National Park

We have reported on this hike here, so today just showing a view from the top.  Our third time on the plateau, and never seen anyone even on the trail.  Seven miles, 1600 feet of elevation gain. 


We have hiked together 450 times since 2011.  It is our favorite of all hikes.

Upper and Lower Covington Flats Loop Hike: Joshua Tree National Park

This is a really nice hike that takes you through different kinds of terrain.  We followed the route described in "On Foot in Joshua Tree National Park," a very fine book by Patty Furbish.  We wanted to add a bit to her description, however, because some hikers might misunderstand a few points.

The hike leaves from the picnic area in the Lower Covington Flats.  By "picnic area" we mean one picnic table.  Get there early.  

You set out along a very well marked trail heading south across the flats.  This area is really stunning.

At one mile you will come to a wash.  Be careful here.  There are footprints all around, including some that go three different directions up washes.  However, soon after entering the wash you will see a trail on the other side.  Go on that trail.

At two miles you will meet up with the California Hiking and Riding Trail.   There is a trail sign at this intersection.

 

Follow the trail that leads to Upper Covington Flats.  The sign indicates 1.5 miles, but we registered 1.6.  This trail rises moderately for a few hundred feet.  It is a beautiful hike, through Joshua Trees and other vegetation.  

  


 At this point you will see a Backcountry Board for Upper Covington Flats.  From here, according to the book, one travels east for 50 yards and then enters a wash.  Here is a view toward where one would go.




The book then tells you to walk through the wash until you cross the path you met earlier, at the wash where it is easy to lose your way.  That means a hike of 1.6 miles through the wash.  What the book does not mention is that this is not just a wash that you can walk through.  There is a meaningful amount of boulder scrambling involved, including some areas that appear treacherous if one is not careful.  The wash is also choked with underbrush in places.

 

Here is our advice for this trail.  Follow it clockwise as described in the book.  We have the hiking philosophy that we never climb down anything we can't climb up, and vice versa.  However, it is much easier to slide down some of the slippery rocks in the wash than to try to climb up them.

Second, when you get to these areas (there are two particularly challenging ones), look all around for the best route.  Both of these areas have a good route to get down, although at first glance that might not look likely.

We are not risk-taking hikers, so if we would have had any doubts, we would have retraced our steps.  That is our hiking philosophy.  So it is a perfectly safe hike if you are aware of what you are getting into, and if you carefully choose your route down these dry falls.

The hike was 6.2 miles (it was listed as 5.7 in the book, but both of our GPS devices always show more distance than the book reports), with 725 feet of elevation gain.

There is a lot of variety in terms of terrain, and is a terrific hike.

Hexahedron Mine Hike: Joshua Tree National Park

This hike is to a mine in the Hexie Mountains.  The mine was active in the early 1900s.  Beyond that, like for most mines in the Southwest, there is not much information about it.

The hike begins at the Back Country Board along Geology Trail Road.  Four wheel drive is recommended for the road, but if one is careful almost any vehicle could travel on it unless it was quite wet.

The first part of the hike is a very beautiful 2 1/2-3.0  mile walk across Pleasant Valley.  One passes beneath the Gold Coin Mine within the first 1/2 mile of the trail. 

There is an old mining road across this area, and it is pretty easy to follow (and pretty easy to find yourself off of it if you pay too much attention to footprints instead of to the road).

And, like everywhere (sigh) a few people have broken the law and driven their vehicles off road in the area.

At mile 2.6 the road trail crosses a small wash.  If you are alert (we weren't) you will see a cairn on the other side marking the continuation of the road trail.  Instead, being the experienced hikers we are, we followed the foot prints into the wash and then had to backtrack.

The road trail continues east up a small hill and down it.  Off to your left you will see a road trail climbing up the hill, and you will say to yourself:  "I have to climb that?"  Fortunately, you don't know at this point that what you are looking at is only a fraction of the climb or you might reconsider your hike.

At that point you are at mile 2.9.  There is a small switchback after you get down from the small hill.  From that point to the mine is 1.7 miles, with an elevation gain of 750 feet.

However, this doesn't tell the entire story, because for the first part of the climb you go up 500 feet in .7 miles.  It is very steep.  You keep rounding the corners of the mountain, thinking that now it is going to be flat, and instead see that it keeps going straight up. 

There are several terrific features of this hike.  And the mine is the least of them.  The road trail, though, is a marvel.  It is still in great shape 100 years later.  We are frequently in awe of the skill that it required to make these roads.  All of it done by hand, in the heat.  Who were these tough buggers?

If someone brought in gravel, started at the bottom of the road and dumped it 10 feet at a time, the road could be usable in a week.  That's how good it still is. 

 

 

 

At the top, near the mine (which is blocked off or caved in), is a small stone cabin.  In contrast to many of the stone structures we fine near mines, this one seemed to actually be a home.

 The stone cabin from the mine:

 And of course the ubiquitous trash pile next to the home.  Guys just threw their cans out the window when they had eaten out of them.  They needed their mothers there to clean up for them, I guess.

 

Views from the road trail were spectacular.

 

The trail using our GPS.  The hike was 9.3 miles with an elevation gain of 1200 feet.  We encountered no other hikers the day we went.