In the winter of 2002, Ed, Ralph and I went on a weekend backpacking trip to Joshua Tree National Park, an hour or so away east of Los Angeles. A very beautiful desert park, it's named after the ubiquitous Joshua Tree which dots the landscape. Even though it was January, the temperature was quite high during the day but at night, it dropped drastically. This park does have a lot of trails but I felt like it was better suited for day hikers than backpackers. And unlike most other places I have backpacked in, there were no water sources along the way and we had to take all the water we need from the trail head. There were a few day hikers on the trail but we didn't see any other backpackers. We walked for about 6 miles before finally finding a nice place to camp. It was tough tethering the tents to the ground because when we go there, the winds were quite strong. In the morning, I woke up early and scrambled up a nearby hill to get a better vantage view.
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