I got back from a month of travel (national park-free, unfortunately) just in time: Today marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Yosemite Grant to preserve Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove by Abraham Lincoln! Certainly couldn’t let this occasion go by unnoticed.
Yosemite
is without a doubt one of my favorite places in this world. It’s definitely hard to keep up any pretense that I don’t have a favorite park, and I’ve spent my past couple 
birthdays waking up and logging on to recreation.gov to make sure I get those coveted summer camp
ing reservations.
Yosemite Valley deserves every superlative it gets for its grandeur and beauty, and other parts of the park show off even more wonders, like giant sequoias and the bright blue lakes of the High Sierras. Recently I’ve opted for Tuolumne Meadows in the summer because of the crowds in the valley, but I’m hoping to plan a winter or spring visit to Yosemite Valley next season.
So thanks, Abe, for helping to preserve this wonderful piece of California!
amenities of campgrounds in the park (I have to say, I am a fan of access to potable water). Some campsites were pretty large, but with nothing but a few Joshua trees for buffer, it did get a little noisy from some of the nearby campers. Not so noisy you couldn’t hear the coyotes crying in the early evening, though. There are some mid-range hiking trails in the area of the campground, but we didn’t check them out this trip. We did discover that Sam’s Market (and pizza and Indian food…) a few miles down the road in the town of Joshua Tree, had a good beer selection and other supplies, such as firewood.
Perhaps because of the sparse nature of the desert and potentially high temperatures, Joshua Tree seemed to be heavy on the shorter interpretive nature trails, with fewer of the longer half-day and day hike options I usually prefer. At least in terms of established trails – you may want to explore backpacking and backcountry hiking options to get further off the main roads. That being said, it was definitely worth checking out some of these nature trails, particularly as first-time visitors. One of my favorites was the Cholla Cactus Garden on the road that heads toward the southern entrance. They really do look like fuzzy teddy bears, but that’s a mistake you don’t want to make. Barker Dam was basically a dirty puddle when we were there, but you can still walk the trail to spot lizards, learn about different desert plants, and, if interested, see the pictographs “enhanced” by old movie crews.
Of course one highlight of the park is seeing the eponymous Joshua trees in all their Seuss-like glory. In mid-February, we were a little early for wildflowers (perhaps worsened by the fact it hadn’t yet rained this year due to the drought), but we did get to see a few Joshua trees with their fluffy white pinecone-esque blooms, particularly as we drove up to Keys View, where you can see the entire Coachella Valley, including a quite ominous-looking San Andreas Fault line.
