Joshua Tree – Part 3

“Stick ’em up!”

 The American West has always been referred to as the wild west because of its untamed nature. Joshua Tree offered a taste of the wild West as well as well as its natural beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Keys was a central figure in those days and much of his life and work are still seen in the park today. The ranch where he and his wife raised 5 children is still intact and is now a museum although they weren’t doing tours on the days we were there. He built the Barker Dam we had seen on a previous hike and he operated the Wall Street Stamp Mill. But, he was probably best remembered as the guy who shot and killed Worth Bagley over a water dispute. The site of the incident and grave stone are still there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hiked out to the Wall Street Stamp Mill which looked similar to the Lost Horse mine site we had seen previously but this site hosted a collected of vintage vehicles from the 1930’s which the boys found “awesome!”  In differing states of decay, each one had a personality and revealed things of the past such as having cotton “belted” tires, wood frames and running boards. The Dudes had never seen anything like that before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made our way over to Hidden Valley which is a boxed canyon that makes a natural corral with high cliffs for fencing. Cattle rustlers supposedly used the canyon to hide and rebrand cattle before reselling them. we didn’t see any cattle rustlers or cattle but we did see an assortment of cacti and more rocks for the Dudes to climb on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although we didn’t see many desert critters, we were lucky enough to see a Cactus Wren, Gambel’s Quail a jackrabbit and a coyote.

 

 

 

 

left: Coyote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best view in the park is from a 5,185 foot peak called Keys view. From there we were able to see the San Andreas fault, the Salton Sea and Palm Springs. Unfortunately  they were all shrouded in smog. After spending time in the wilderness, it was a little disheartening to see that progress has once again left it’s mark at wilderness’s front door.

 

 

 

 

left: The San Andres fault is the line in the middle of the haze.

 

 

 

 

 

right: Palm Springs is in the “soup” somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished up or trip to Joshua Tree with our usual trip the ranger station to collect yet another Ranger Badge. The Dudes have racked up an impressive 16 badges! They also got a special patch celebrating Joshua Tree’s 75th year and a book written just for the Jr. Rangers. Bravo boys!

 

above: “Wild west shadow petroglyphs”

 

 

“They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. It ain’t true. I only killed one man for snoring.” — John Wesley Hardin.