Trek Date December 26th - 27th, 2019

…With the end of 2019 also comes the end of our troop’s charter with the Boy Scouts of America, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will no longer be associated with scouting. We’ve had a lot of great camping trips over the years and JTNP is always one of the boy’s favorite places to camp. And this year, with the unexpected snowstorm turning the park into a winter wonderland and making our overnight camping at Indian Cove more of an adventure than we had expected, this trip ranks as one of the best ever.

We were on the road by 8:30 Thursday morning and had a fairly smooth drive, even with the rain and the two solo-car spinouts into the center divider we passed on the 60. Things started getting interesting as we motored our way up Hwy 62 into Morongo Valley (elevation 2500 feet). Substitute “snowy” for “interesting.” Quite a bit of snow along the sides of the road and upon the hills on both sides of the road. Things got even more interesting (snowier) as we approached Yucca Valley (3300 foot elevation). The rain turned to snow and everything was white. Definitely not what we were expecting, but exciting.

After passing through Yucca Valley, we drove through the small town of Joshua Tree and continued on towards our first stop, the Subway in Twentynine Palms. After lunch, we headed into the park. The snow had turned back to rain after we left Yucca Valley and it continued to fall lightly as we headed into JTNP via the park’s north entrance. Only a couple cars in line at the ranger kiosk, which was nice. A little ways past the entrance the rain turned again to light snow and the scenery became more and more white and pristine, as the snow coverage got thicker and thicker as we rose in elevation.

The original afternoon plan was to drive to the Stirrup Rock area and let the scouts explore and scramble the great rock formations in that area, help them find some pictographs and Native American habitation sites that are in the area. But it was pretty clear that our plans had changed (no plan survives contact with the elements). After turning south at Pinto Wye, the snow became heavier and the road started getting more coverage and slippery. I thought we could make it to the parking lot for Twin Tanks trailhead and that’s what we did. There wouldn’t be much hiking on this trip, or serious rock scrambling, but there would be fun in the snow.

The temperature was probably around 35° and after a while the clothes became wet and the extremities became frozen, so we got back into the trucks and decided to start heading to our campsite at Indian Cove. There won’t be any mention here of anyone’s truck getting stuck in the snow, as eventually we were back on the road.

We did stop along the way at the trailhead for the Contact Mine, and hiked out to a small (for Joshua Tree) pile of rocks and did a bit of scrambling. The rain/wet snow made us all glad that we had brought along extra clothes.

The campground was not very crowded and after finding our site, we set up camp, got a fire going and then called an audible on dinner. Instead of tinfoil dinners (it would have taken way too long to get a good bed of coals going and then cook the meals), we fried up potatoes, carrots and onions on the Coleman stove and then added in a couple cans of beef stew which I had brought along, just in case. It turned out great and was a nice hot meal on a cold winter’s day.

After dinner, after standing around the fire which was beginning to die down, the snow continued to fall and the temperature was dropping. I think everyone was a tiny bit anxious about the prospects of a very cold night. We may or may not have sat in the trucks with the heaters on for about an hour to get thoroughly warm before heading to bed. By 8:30, everyone was in their tent and sleeping bag (enhanced with blankets).

It continued to snow most of the night; the accumulation of snow on top of the tents did cause them to partially collapse, but after you knock the snow off, they pop right back into shape and you can breath again. The overnight temperature probably got down to the low 30s. All in all, everyone survived. Which, as a scout leader, is ALWAYS a good thing! Four out of six campers were very comfortable and warm during the night. In fact, I was surprised by how warm I was during the night and heard the same from half of the scouts. The other half of the scouts may have had a little problem with their tent placement, possibly resulting in a snow runoff stream passing under a corner of their tent, making things a tiny bit damp. But I will not name names.

Friday morning brought partly cloudy skies and the prospects of a beautiful day ahead. No rain or snow would fall. After climbing around the rocks near our campsite, breakfast was prepared and devoured. Breakfast burritos. More climbing was done, camp was broken down and cleaned up, the trucks were loaded up and we headed back into JT, to see what we could find.

With Friday looking to be a great rain/snow-free day, I had a hunch it would be crowded in the park. I was glad to see only about 20 cars in line at the ranger kiosk on our way in. After what seemed forever, we got past the station and headed in. We had a request to visit Skull Rock, so that was our plan. While the paved roads were plowed, they weren’t really plowed as wide as they could have been, so available parking along the road was limited. It was packed, but we took the first available spots that were easy to get into and walked along the road towards Skull Rock.

It looked like this portion of the park must have gotten at least 8-12 inches of snow overnight, turning the odd angles of the rocks and the pointy spikes of the Mojave Yuccas into a soft and smooth snowy expanse. Everywhere you looked, it was white, soft and bumpy.

The lure of the snow seemed to have more of a draw than the spookiness of Skull Rock, the boys soon headed off to explore.

After a while, the cold began to creep in through our layers and we headed back to the trucks. Traffic was even crazier as we headed west along Park Blvd. Every turnout and parking area was jammed, but we got lucky at Cap Rock and were able to find two spots. Perfect timing, I guess.

Cap Rock is a very interesting formation and has a nice nature trail as well. The boys immediately headed to the rocks, in search of a cave that would lead them to the top. I headed out along the nature trail to see if I could find some nice photo opps.

Cap Rock gets its name from the rock sitting on top. It’s amazing how many balanced boulders there are in the park that look like they’re just ready to come tumbling down.

It was really a lucky thing to be able to see JTNP covered in such thick snow, as it very rarely happens. Cold temperatures and precipitation have to work together, and while winter temps in the park are often below freezing, the average annual precipitation is only around 5-1/2 inches. But this year we had a late Christmas gift, the frigid air coming down from Alaska and the moisture from a storm system that set up off the SoCal coast combining to create an 8-12 inch, snowy wintery wonderland that might not be repeated for years to come. I’ve been waiting for years to see the park covered in white and am glad to have been able to share that experience with our scouts, on our last official scout camping trip.

Looks like the scouts found their cave and the “secret” passage way to the top.

By late afternoon, everyone was ready to get back in the trucks and start heading for home. A stop for dinner along the way, and then some heavier-than-expected traffic didn’t put us too far behind schedule. Everyone was dropped off and our last official scout camping trip came to a close. A great adventure to finish the year 2019. Looking forward to more adventures and future camping trips with our new program.

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Joshua Tree National Park

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Joshua Tree National Park

The Last Boy Scout Camping Trip...

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