Hikes And Ranger Programs

It got down to 45 F last night, a lot cooler at these higher elevations. But as soon as the sun gets up it feels so much warmer. It got up to 70 F (Victoria summer weather!) during the afternoon. This is much above normal temperatures for this time of year, but tomorrow, we get our reckoning after all this nice weather. The temperatures are supposed to lower considerably, and there may be some rain. You can see in this picture of the visitor center it was a beautiful sunny day today.

 

Doreen went for a walk down to the visitor center this morning, but that was about all the activity for her today.

 

I went for a hike that was approximately 1 mile long; it was basically a circular trail around that mountain that you see behind the visitor center. But the last part of it was up through a canyon where you had to climb through some very narrow places with the help of some rings that have been cemented into the rock.

 

There were lots of interesting rock formations.

 

This is the canyon the trail went through, or over. These rocks were the trail! I didn't bother to ask Doreen to come on this hike!

 

And here I am climbing vertically up through a narrow place holding on to the rings.

 

There were two outings with a park ranger this afternoon and this evening that I took advantage of; I couldn't get Doreen interested. This afternoon, the ranger had an excursion out to a place where there were some petroglyphs. With the excuse that I was taking a picture of the petroglyphs, I managed to get a good picture of the ranger! All these rangers in parks are the same; it's hard to describe, but they all talk the same way, and are very amusing.

 

The same ranger gave a slide show in the evening after dark, pointing out all the interesting things about the Mojave National Preserve. It was a very pleasant evening, a very dark sky, but a bit on the chilly side. It's going to be a cold night sleeping tonight!