Joshua Tree National Park

Our next stop was Joshua Tree National Park.

While hiking through the desert I was completely surprised when a Joshua Tree leaped out onto the trail.

Fortunately I can run faster than a tree so I escaped without harm.

It is difficult to comprehend this amazing land.  Here is an arid environment, and yet you find  many species of plants thriving.

As we travel around I am continuously amazed at the ingenuity of man and efforts that have been put forth to thrive in a harsh area.  Because of the lack of water some cowboys built a dam in a small canyon and created their own lake.  Due to the drought that is besieging the area the lake is way below normal levels, but still there. Take notice of the water lines in this small lake.

And every where in this region is evidence of those who went before.  What motivated these people to leave there mark upon the land, yet wherever we go, we find similar pictographs.

And how in the world did Mother Nature get these rocks stacked like this?

Cochise Stronghold, Benson, AZ

Our time at McKinney Falls State Park came to an end.  after nearly 3 months in one area we were quite anxious to move along.  So we made 3 500 mile days leaving TX and finally stopped in Benson, AZ for a little climbing and exploration.

In the Dragoon Mountains, part of the Coronado National Forest, we came across an area called the Cochise Stronghold.  Lots of options for exploring this historical area, but lacking a lot of time we chose to try our hand at rock climbing.

I recall stopping on the road to the climbing area, I was only going about 15 mph.  Thinking to myself that I was not aggravated at the slow pace.  While stuck in traffic in Austin I would feel tense, here, I was completely relaxed, even though the rate of travel was about the same.

New area so it took us a little while to explore out the climbing routes. Here is Barbara letting me know that I should bring the lunch up.

Of course once we got the climb underway she was pretty excited about the whole thing.  Here she is "feeling alive".

Her feelings where a little short lived, her rope snagged on her final rappel.  She got stuck about half way down.  We had to safe her in on a climbing bolt while I rigged a rappel from the top and cleared the rope.  All done in a safe manner.   Just a little unnerving when you are hanging on the side of a cliff and you can't go down and you can't go up.