Desert News

Fun in the Desert

Article:  JOSHUA TREE - A TRAIL RUNNERS DELIGHT!
The Mojave Desert — sounds hot, right? Well, how about this — The Joshua Tree National Park That sounds MUCH nicer.  Trail Runners Club of LA members headed east from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree National Park (in the Mojave desert) for a 16-mile run and an event only nature could host. 

Most runners left Los Angeles at 5:30 am Saturday morning to drive 140-miles to reach the Boy Scout Trailhead at the Indian Cove Entrance Station by 8:30 a.m. Upon arrival, we quickly set out on this annual trail run, some of us for the first time.

The altitude change was immediately noticeable. Desert or not, the elevation at this point is 2,840 feet above sea level compared to a Los Angeles altitude of a couple hundred feet above sea level.

The first section of the trail led us down a dry sand and gravel riverbed. Running the basin was like running on a beach, except that, and I can only speak for myself, I don’t run more than from ‘here to there’ on beach sand -  it’s just hard.

Still the sand seemed to become more and more forgiving, especially when the scenery became more brilliant. Our path escorted us into what seemed like a canyon. The riverbed was now surrounded on either side by mountainous rock formations called Inselbergs. The appearance of the Inselberg is best described as mountains of granite boulders stacked one on another. The Isenberg’s were formed from buried granite that had been fractured into rectangles, later exposed by erosion and weathered by 100 million years to become the idyllic landmasses that are seen during the first few miles on Boy Scout Trail.

The basin portion of the run guided us out of our first 1 1/2 miles onto more solid and less sandy ground up through the rock formations. The rocky ascent was scattered with boulders to be negotiated and narrow switchbacks that climbed further upward. It was a few miles of this very different terrain until we leveled out at 4,160 feet -- an altitude high enough and cool enough for the Joshua tree to flourish.

At just the point when you would start wishing for a good shade tree, the apparently ever-changing ecosystem would make its’ presence known once more and we found ourselves lost in your surroundings all over again. The amazing fields of snarled Joshua trees were a site to behold, as this region of the Mojave Desert is the only place in the world that the Joshua tree exists naturally.

The Boy Scout trail brought us 7.8 miles to the South Entrance station where we were able to enjoy the shade of a park restroom, replenish our fluids and have a snack from the carefully stashed goodies left behind the previous night by a few of the runners in a suitable overnight canister, before taking the same trail back.

Running back those 7.8 miles was almost like running a new course except that we were able to take a second glance at the things we most enjoyed. The brilliant sun filled day made every rock glimmer under its light and every critter and creature run to find protection from its rays.  We however, simply ran for food.

Was it hot? DARN TOOTIN’. Would I run Joshua Tree again given the chance? Absolutely!

Final Mentions: The trip was enjoyed by all of us and once again “50 Trail Runs in Southern California” paid off. It gave us the impetus and course description to make the trip easy and enjoyable.

Several runners stayed in Palm Springs to run and enjoy the breathtaking Indian Canyons. These courses will hopefully find there way into the next edition of”50 Trail Runs in Southern California”. For now, you can read about the course in your upcoming Trail Runners newsletter!

Barbara de Briere 5/02