Golden Bell Mine

Golden Bell Mine

The day was perfect, mid-70s with clear skies, the slightest breeze and no one in the area. Once you've been in the desert long enough, you get a feeling of how "visited" an area is. The Golden Bell Mine is a seldom visited place. Hidden behind a low hill, there's no evidence from the road that there's something interesting behind it. Like many of the awesome places in JTree, you gotta get out of the car and do some exploring (and of course, pre-trek research always pays off, and helps keep you from getting lost, breaking a leg, dying of thirst and being eaten my coyotes and turkey vultures, but that's another story).

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52 Miles

52 Miles

If you've ever wondered how far it is from the west entrance of Joshua Tree National Park to the south entrance, it's approximately 52 miles via Park Blvd. and Pinto Basin Road. I know this because, I recently entered the confusing (at least to me, at present) world of video cameras and decided to make a video of that drive. 

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