Joshua Tree National Park

I traveled south to Joshua Tree National Park the last weekend in February.  My dear friend from Cape Hatteras, Katie, came with me.  It was a delightful weekend.  I absolutely fell in love with this park!

The necessary stop at the entrance sign.  The day was beautiful.

We arrived early and staked out a campsite.  There were a lot of large rocks and boulders at our site which came in very handy.  The wind picked up during the day and by evening, I was glad my tent was somewhat sheltered; otherwise I might have blown away.

As we were driving to the trailhead for our first hike, we came across this sign.  We simply had to stop.

Turns out it's simply a place to climb.  I had heard for a while Joshua Tree was a popular place for climbing and we saw quite of few folks walking around with either ropes or crash pads.

I was able to get tickets to take the ranger tour of Keys Ranch.  Bill Keys was a cohort of Death Valley Scotty and I was curious to see Keys's set-up.

If I were to sum up the Keys Ranch in one word it would be junkyard.  Talk about hording...he had everything.  Including an old Ford as an additional chicken coop.  It makes sense, when you live in isolated places to hang on to things, yes, but the amount and variety Keys had was overwhelming.

The view from the backyard is definitely worth it.  This part of the country is beautiful.

Being high desert, there is a lot of cactus and all different varieties.  I found this sign particularly interesting.  

Barrel Cactus.

There is a large cholla (choy-ya) field in the park.  We hit this area right before sunset which made it all the more magical.  Fields of cactus!

Cholla close up.  Most were about waist high.

I have no idea what type of succulent this is but I thought it quite lovely.

After a cold and very windy night, we did a bit more exploring and hiking.  I found this lovely rock perfectly formed for relaxing.  (Don't judge the outfit, it was really, really cold.)

Beautiful views of the park.

Of course, if you go to Joshua Tree National Park, you're going to see Joshua Trees!  I love these guys.  They are not technically trees, but part of the yucca family.

Don't ask how many pictures I took of me impersonating a Joshua Tree.

Beautiful park with beautiful views.  A place I will definitely visit again.

Hair Cut

I have been debating cutting my hair short-short for a while.  It's been almost ten years since I've had it above my collar.  The last Saturday in February I was in Las Vegas for a church meeting and used the opportunity to run errands.  When I parked at the grocery store, there was a hair salon right next door.  I went in, still not sure if I was getting a trim or a little bit more than that.  I decided to chop.

It's a little longer in the front and shorter with some layering in the back.  It's not quite what I wanted, a bit shaggy/choppy/uneven (in an unattractive way) in the back so I may have my mom's stylist clean it up next time in I'm Houston but for now, it's fun and rather sassy.

It's been interesting learning how to wash it, especially in the back where it's really short.

What do you think?

And totally unrelated...the above pictures were taken with my (very high tech for Kate) electronic reader that also has a camera.  Over Christmas, my brother got a hold of said device and took this self portrait.  Little did he know it would end up on my blog.  Gotta love it!

Hike Death Valley 2015

My dear brother got me this lovely little tripod for Christmas.  It is quite versatile.  It easily attaches and detaches to and from my camera.

The legs bend and twist in all sorts of directions.  That means it can attach to just about anything, such as the hand-towel bar in the bathroom.

Death Valley has come up with a hiking activity.  If you hike certain places in the park, you get points.  Earn enough points and you receive your official Hike Death Valley 2015 sticker.  I decided to take the tripod out as I hiked to acquire my sticker.

First stop was Natural Bridge.  It had been over two years since I'd last been there and it was as impressive the second time around as it was the first.

View looking west into the valley from Natural Bridge.

Next, I headed to Golden Canyon and Red Cathedral.  Beautiful colors in Golden Canyon.

Looking west towards the valley through Golden Canyon.

End of the line was Red Cathedral.  I'd hiked Golden Canyon before, but had taken a different trail to Gower Gulch and hadn't been to this part of the canyon before.  It was pretty impressive.

See, I was there!

Next, I headed to Mosaic Canyon, another place I hadn't been in about two years.  It too did not disappoint.

Death Valley geology rocks!  (And so does my new tripod that made most of these photos possible.  Thanks, brother!)

After a long day with a lot of miles, I earned my sticker!

If you want to earn your sticker, fellow hikers always welcome!