Open Spaces

Apologies to any of my regular readers (are you out there?) I went to Joshua Tree this weekend and didn't get any blogging done.  I did, however, have an amazing time.  There is nothing quite like breaking out of the daily grind and spending some quality time out in our country's lovely open spaces.

As Americans, we haven't exactly been good stewards to the environment but if there is one thing we did do right, its to set aside some of our most treasured land for preservation as National Parks.  These places are oases in a sea of industrialized development and tract houses, we can and should continue to preserve and protect these national treasures.  Unfortunately in the era of austerity these "non-essential" expenditures are often the first and hardest hit casualties in our funding budgets.  Our parks have been operating on bare-bones budgets for too long.  Not only should we be putting an emphasis on funding our national parks, we should also focus on using them.

We don't spend enough time outside, we feel no connection to nature, we are suffocated by air pollution and dense city centers; this may be the 21st century's way of life, but thats all the more reason to keep our parks in pristine shape and ready for our much needed breaks.

Heading to J-Tree I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful turn-out that the park had.  It's prime time for desert camping- hitting that sweet spot between way too cold at night and way too hot in the day, the goldilocks of weather in the desert.  Even our short trip, about 30 hours, was such a refresher I felt compelled to write about it.  We did some hiking, some bouldering, some sitting around the campfire (with a few cold beers I might add), and one intense off-road trip out of the park.

I've been to J-Tree quite a few times now, it's one of my favorite camping spots (when the weather is right) but still find new sights, sounds and adventures in every trip.  On this trip we even experienced an adventure just leaving the park.  My friend (who was driving) decided that it would be a fun idea to take some little 4-wheel drive, unmaintained and seemingly desolate "road" out through the south side of the park.  I was (appropriately) hesitant, but what the heck we came for adventure right?

After the first hour my hesitation turned to outright fear.  We were in the middle of the desert, no cell service, no sign of activity, on a road we had never traveled and with some ominous signs warning us to continue "at our own risk."  As it turned out the road was (barely) "passable" and we made it clear to the other side of the mountainous pass we were traveling.  I was white knuckling the whole 2 hour trip and my stomach was churning and tied in knots, but just 24 hours later- I already remember it fondly as an extraordinary adventure.

Our parks can be adventurous, fun and sometime a little scary but they needn't be.  They are there for all of us to enjoy- they're there for us to relax and unwind.  What are you waiting for?  Finish reading the rest of my blog, get packed and go get out there.  You'll thank me soon enough.