Nice writeup! Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Yeah I think something about how fast you go from sea level to 8800 feet on the tramway, and then exerting yourself, causes potential altitude sickness. My GF got sick on that scenic hike too.

It's pretty cool passing 4 different ecological zones on the way from desert to alpine. You can do it in a hike too - called cactus to clouds - that's one of the roughest day hikes in existence - 8000' of elevation gain, 10,600' if you go all the way to the summit.

https://www.visitgreaterpalmsprings....ke-in-america/

Really enjoyable to read that and glad you had a good time. It's almost impossible to have a bad time in Joshua Tree.

Death Valley is another story

I love Death Valley. But I love everything outdoors.

It's amazing but I was just alluding to the possibility of having an extremely bad time there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_Germans

Germans love to go there in summer for some reason.

I asked a woman who works at Furnace Creek what 130 was like. She said you can't wear jewelry outside for more than a few seconds or it burns your skin.

Nothing like being in your 50's and also being the youngest ones their.

Good thread.

I didn't realize we are near to being America's Team.

You guys may find this interesting on that subject.
I asked a Ranger how often they have to do a search and rescue.
On a typical day there are one or two.
Usually one due to being lost and normally one due to injury.

One Ranger who I became friendly with adds..They usually end well but there is still a guy hiking out there since this time last yr.

I was like.. ouch.. just no way to find him?
Nope not on foot or helicopter.
I asked what about Drones.
He said well their illegal over a national park even by the staff themselves.
But that all changes November 16th Joshua state park is allowed to use a highly advanced drone to search and rescue.
First mission and the reason this was pushed for was this guy lost in the park.

I said..well there is obviously no heat signature and I'm guessing he past in the shade of trees or under boulders.

He said the tech is hard to explain but they were at an information meeting..
Somehow this drone will be able to see this guys skeleton.

But the trick obviously is flying close to over the body.
It could take a little bit of time.

Do not doubt this.
Were not exactly the old Cowboys yet but the strangers that just wanted to talk about the Chiefs chances to finally knock out Brady was unbelievable.
And who didn't want to talk about PM or his injury.
Once in awhile I'd ask who is your team..I heard them all Bills,Rams,Bengals,Lions,Bears to name a few even some Raider fans.
I almost got sick of saying Go Chiefs back at someone as we walked thru Airports..I said almost sick of it.:)

On the way home a guy says Go Chiefs and I said... Thanks..
I kept walking thinking did I really just say thanks instead of Go Chiefs.
That is how old it got.

If anybody wants to read a fantastic write-up by the guys who found the Death Valley Germans here is a link. This is very much worth your time.




https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/...alley-germans/

Wow thanks for posting that!!
Its a long read but worth it!

Totally I plowed through that whole thing. Addictive.

I'm on a SoCal hiking group on FB. Seems like there's always someone missing. At least one person died on Whitney this year. There was still ice and snow into early August and some people were massively unprepared. Another woman probably would have died after spending a night out near the summit - but some PCT hikers found her at dawn and helped her to safety.

There's a woman missing right now from near the Whitney area that they think might be kidnapped.

Another woman got chased away from her campsite by a guy with a knife, while her husband was just reparking the car, and they found her 3 days later.

Concur with all and the read. Thanks.


I used to fly around there all the time. I tried to pay attention. Terrain changes from Death Valley to the mountains were amazing and deceptive running low level particularly into a setting sun.


BS old story coming read or ignore:

A couple of Marine buddies were coming back to China Lake in the 80s in an OV-10 on a Sunday near sunset. They got in a box canyon, and ran out of airspeed and ideas. Rolled level and punched.

Those seats fired at 45 degree opposite angles. 1 buddy was fired into the canyon wall. Killed him. The other buddy got 1/2 a swing and hit the rough terrain. Jacked up but mobile. He was goofy.

Some mammoth rescue crew was starting their training for the upcoming season and happened to see the whole thing. They found the surviving buddy and saved him but it took talking sense into him. My buddy’s plan was to walk out to 395 Highway. He kept trying and argued with the rescuers. The rescuers finally convinced him it was a bad plan by showing him that he was going the wrong way.

One of the rescuers put my buddy in his sleeping bag for the night. My buddy, a Southern boy, said he held onto that “hippy, like I was married to him.”

Got flown out the next morning to the hospital. The two wives spoke to the hospital and a nurse on the phone told one that she was sorry. Not how it is supposed to go. I still talk to the survivor. He’ll enjoy my retelling of one of his stories.

That story reminds me of the opening chapters of The Right Stuff.

I've been out taking pics near Joshua Tree at midnight and heard the sonic boom of some fighter overhead. I thought a bomb went off somewhere until I saw something streaking across the sky and figured out what it was.