In the afternoon of our third day in the park we hiked the Hidden Valley Loop Trail, where there were many Rock Climbers, then drove north to our reserved site at the Indian Cove Campground.
The Hidden Valley Trail has an interesting history. One hundred years ago, this region was home to cattle ranchers, and this valley was essentially inaccessible to cows due to the granite walls surrounding it. Hence its name. Just before the park took over the land, a local rancher blasted open a way through. Inside the valley were all sorts of plants that got wiped out elsewhere in the park, thanks to human use, like lush bunchgrass and pinyon pines. These are still plentiful today, when humans (rather than cows) are the primary visitors.
As we entered the valley, we noticed plenty of oddly-shaped granite everywhere, slowly getting weathered by sun and rain and icy cold.
As we hiked around the loop trail, we noticed signs of human occupation, as well as plenty of interesting plants and animals, all adapted to the harsh desert environment.
The current human occupants of the valley are hikers like us, plus Rock Climbers. Joshua Tree Granite is world-renowned for its quality. Cracks and slabs and crags and boulders, JTNP has it all!
Not surprisingly, there simply wasn’t enough shade out there in the desert. Especially on the east side of the valley with the sun past noon. Finally, we found a rocky wall, took a cool break in the solid shade, and drank some water. There wasn’t a whole lot of breeze in this enclosed valley.
Had it been cooler, we would have enjoyed scrambling on the granite boulders, but not today. It was a relief to get back in the car. We drove around for a while, checked out what we heard from a ranger was the tallest Joshua Tree in the park (it’s not labelled with a sign), and then headed north to the exit in the town of Joshua Tree. We had to head east on the main highway to get to the campground at Indian Cove
We drove all around the campground at Indian Cove, mostly just to pass the time. It was a very large campground, with interesting granite formations at each site. When we arrived it was still much too hot, but what could we do? I voted for sitting in the running car with the AC on, but Vicki was having none of that. I sighed and started prepping our “camperized” car for the night. This time I brought the rear-hatch tent contraption. It’s a bit of trouble to set up, but it offers a screened-in, bug-free way to let some needed airflow through the car at night. We used it once before, last year, in the desert near Palm Springs. It worked!
While I got the car ready, Vicki whipped up some dinner, which we ate in the shade of a boulder. At least the air was cooling by then, but not quickly enough for me. Just the same, I’ve endured worse.
Near 7pm, just before sundown, we were expecting a visit from some friends who lived nearby, in the town of Joshua Tree. We met them years ago while hiking in the High Sierra, and we really hit it off. It was fun to see them again, and they knew lots of secret places to visit in the park. We vowed to check them out next time we came, when it was cooler.
After that, it was time for bed. By then the air had cooled off, but the car and rocks retained some heat. We were glad for the tent on the rear hatch. Sometimes when it’s hot all it takes is a light breeze to keep things pleasant. We checked the weather report, and it looked like the heat wave wasn’t about to end any time soon. Now that we’d seen our friends, we decided to head back home tomorrow. But not until we checked out the northwest end of the park. And with that we went to sleep.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
<< Earlier Day 3 Onward to Day 4 >> 
hikingtales.com 