Day 41: There are More Joshua Trees in Death Valley Than in Joshua Tree
Furnace Creek, CA through Death Valley National Park to Joshua Tree National Park (CA)
292.55 Miles | 5:03 Riding Time
It’s Tuesday, May 21, 2024, and it’s Day 41 of my cross country motorcycle trip.
At least that’s what the Park Ranger in Death Valley said. Today was another early morning, because I was crossing Death Valley—east to west— and heading down to the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park. So, up and on the road at sunrise.
This section of the park is much more traveled, and so you can see the road surface is more freshly paved, and the lines are freshly painted, so I didn’t have the issue of not being able to distinguish the road surface from the dessert. Also, it’s every so slightly greener up this way, and we’re a little above sea level—and going up.
The climb out of the valley was dramatic. It wasn’t long before I was at 3,400 feet, and it was noticeably cooler and greener the higher I went. Of course what goes up…and back down into the desert for a while before taking a break in Trona, CA. The town was setup as a mining town to extract borax from the Searles Dry Lake. They had some of the funniest t-shirts for sale in the little store that said, ”Meet me at Searles Lake. Bring your own water.”
Through Barstow, I stopped for some water and met some guys who had ridden down from Oakland. They were super-nice and gave me all kinds of suggestions for roads and places to hang out in the area, and along the PCH, which I’d be riding in a few days. Have a good ride, gents.
Finally got into Joshua Tree (the town) and over to the Visitors Center in Twentynine Palms, CA. I picked up a national park passport book (a little late, I know), but it will be respectably full by the time I get back. Dinner at a local diner—John’s Place—and off to my hotel. It was a long, hot day and I was glad for a good night’s sleep.
