-- From Los Angeles to Las Vegas
The road tracklog
from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
from 2011/03/07 to 2011/03/13
The purpose of Monday March 07 was to visit San Diego further 190 km away from Anaheim, but the rain tarnished this day. I arrived about midday downtown to make a harvest of documentation at the Visitor Centre, few sights to see, two maritime museums and a sea-world Zoo. The cold rain which fell down on the city did not encourage me to stroll. After some pictures in downtown I looked for a campground to put me down. I found it at Mission Bay.
En route
Hwy 5
07/03/2011
Skyscrapers
San Diego
07/03/2011
Art Deco
San Diego
07/03/2011
Santa Fe Railway Station
San Diego
07/03/2011
Santa Fe Station
San Diego
07/03/2011
Star of India, 1863
San Diego
07/03/2011
I left San Diego after having bought a electrical wire RV connector with at the ends a female plug of 15A and a male one of 30A at the US standards. The way to head to Joshua Tree NP was about 300 km on Hwy 15, 215, 60 and 62 without any interest if not at the end of the trip a splendid view on snow-covered mountains and wind mill farms on the valley of Palm Springs. I decided to remain in the park two nights to make a short trekking.
En route
Hwy 60
08/03/2011
Wind Mills
Hwy 60
08/03/2011
Joshua Tree NP
08/03/2011
Joshua Tree NP
08/03/2011
I undertaken of good morning a trekking to visit Lost Horse Mines starting from the ad hoc carpark. I made a bad choice by going on foot to the carpark where I arrived two hours later moreover I had not found the short road that I took to go back. The loop suggested by Rangers is of 6,8km actually I went during five hours outward journey and return to Ryan Campground walking 23.6 km with a uneven of about 300meters. After several months of inactivity sporting this trekking was painful for my arthritic articulations. Joshua Tree NP is planted desert with Joshua Trees. The landscapes are marvelous of arid beauty. I met little people, but nobody answered my welcome; Australian courtesy, there was months ago and far away.
Joshua Tree
09/03/2011
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
GPS Tracklog
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
Ranger Map
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
GPS Tracklog
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
Lost Horse Mine
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
Lost Horse Mine
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
Landscape
Joshua Tree NP
09/03/2011
The day after I made a “split” trekking by traversing three trails. The first in the early morning I undertook the climbing of the summit of Ryan Mountain at 1665 meters high. It was not a sporting exploit, but landscapes in low angle light in the morning were stunning.
Ryan Mountain trek
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Gps tracklog
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Landscape
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Further away, after a walk less than one kilometer I admired the first “Arch” in the American parks with another geological sight, Dike.
Arch
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Arch
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Dikes
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Dikes
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Finally having joined Hwy 62, I traversed the track of the 49-Palms to see splendid Palm canopy. In three walks I had traversed a little more than ten kilometers in the desert of Joshua Tree. In the early afternoon I was going to Indian Cove Campground.
49 Palms
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
GPS tracklog
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
49 Palms
Joshua Tree NP
10/03/2011
Friday March 11 in Mojave Desert salt levels the ground close to the “Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms”. Moreover at the junction of the road with the US 66, a group of combat was in position.
Mojave Desert, salt
en route
11/03/2011
Marine Corps
US 66
11/03/2011
Road 66 took by an American horde in looking for employment during the Great Depression in 1930 was called “Mother Road” by John Steinbeck in his book “The Grapes of Wrath”.
"Mother road"
Route 66
11/03/2011
In the center of Mojave NP the Visitor Center is at a spot called, Hole-In-The-Wall. I stopped for the usual harvest and to lunch before making the trekking Barber Peak Loop Trail of more than 10km in two hours and 10 minutes. At the beginning was a descent into Hell using hooks sealed in the rock. Throughout the walk color and shape of the hills varied according to the chemical composition of the rock giving of dramatic landscapes under the sun.
Hole-in-the-Wall
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
GPS tracklog
Barber Peak Loop Trail
11/03/2011
Barber Trail
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
Barber Trail
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
Barber Trail
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
Barber Trail
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
Barber Trail
Mojave NP
11/03/2011
At the return I asked Visitor Center for change to pay the $12 of fee at the campground. It was answered to me that I was to buy for having it, I have a unkind retort. An American couple gave it me with kindness. I establish my bivouac at Mid-Hills campground after 15 km of dirt route.
After a dirt route again I found asphalt to head to Kelso Depot where trains drawn by engines with steam locomotives made water in full desert due to a groundwater. After WWII the city declined, traction was carried out by diesel locomotives. I passed a convoy with a large number of coaches drawn by two diesel locomotives at “a Senator's train” (French word for a very slow speed). I will be always astonished by the slowness of the American trains. Now the station, built in 1924, was duly renovated as Visitor Center.
Kelso Depot
12/03/2011
Kelso Depot
12/03/2011
The crossed landscapes were very varied, sometimes the volcanic origin was obvious as these domes eroded by time and watering.
in the middle of no-where
en route
12/03/2011
On a endless road with long straight lanes, I reached the very famous Death Valley whose altitude is negative, 85.5 meters below the sea level and 57°C in summer. Along the Hwy 178 I visited Badwater, a salted lake of an immaculate whiteness. Further away I made a detour by traversing, with my truck, Artists Drive to admire Artists Palette alas, badly enlightened by a buckled sky. In the early afternoon I arrived in Furnace Creek in full commercial festival. As in all American Parks, it is mandatory to bivouac in campground of which some here posted full. I remained at Texas Spring where I met a Canadian already met on the move, to re-met. Then I was invited to dine by an American couple of whom the wife remarkably spoke French and of whom the parents spoke also French. I was ashamed of the poverty of my English.
Salt basin
Hwy 178
12/03/2011
Badwater
Hwy 178
12/03/2011
Artists Palette
Hwy 178
12/03/2011
I left Furnace Creek by Hwy 190 stopping at Zabriskie Point then at Dantes View. These two lookouts on the geological depression of Death Valley offer an unforgettable spectacle. Having forgotten to set my watch one hour ahead for the daylight saving time -DST- I was late of one hour to see the sunrise over the salted lake of Badwater.
Zabriskie point
Hwy 190
13/03/2011
Dantes View
Hwy 190
13/03/2011
The way towards Las Vegas did not have anything well exciting. I entered the capital of the American Dream by traversing with my truck Las Vegas Bld to take some pictures of the casinos having the most extravagant architecture. Not having any attraction for the games of chance I remained outside of these buildings. In the middle afternoon I stationed for two nights at Hitching RV to prepare the visit of the Great American Parks.
En route
13/03/2011
Las Vegas Bld
13/03/2011
Louxor
Las Vegas Bld
13/03/2011
New York
Las Vegas Bld
13/03/2011
Paris
Las Vegas Bld
13/03/2011
