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Work Sucks. Especially on Sunday.
But Jeeping makes everything better, so after I got out of work today I headed east to the Berdoo Canyon Trail. This road heads up into the Joshua Tree National Park from the Indio, CA area.
The road starts out paved from the turn off but degrades at a wash that is very popular for target shooting. Even afterward, the broken pavement makes for sections of easier driving:
But if you keep trying to follow the pavement, the road becomes more challenging than taking the dirt road bypasses. Even so, I never engaged 4-wheel drive for the entire day.
One obstacle on a paved section was not passable without the bypass:
If you keep looking for the paved sections and following them, they lead to the Berdoo Water Camp:
This was a temporary camp for the workers that were working on the Colorado River Aqueduct construction project that began in 1932. The primary work was on a tunnel that ran under the Little San Bernardino Mtns. The tunnel stretched 18 miles with the section under the Berdoo Water Camp being over five miles long and 2000 feet below the surface. A mining camp for water is amusing to me.
The camp had a hospital that is the only building with any structure left:
The road continues up the hill above the Water Camp, but the only thing at the top is a nice view:
After the Water Camp, the road turns to dirt completely and follows the wash up the canyon. At the border to the Joshua Tree NP, there is a sign:
On the way up, I got out of the way to let two of these pass:
Both had some friendly, very Austrailian-accented folks in them. These were seriously equiped offroad vehicles. I hoped to capture the Austrailian website that was printed on the rigs, but all my photos were too far away to make it readable. These were definitely two sponsored vehicles.
I want one. Just Sayin'.
After getting out of the narrows of the canyon, the upper part of the pass has a veiw all the way to the Salton Sea in the distance:
The drop down to the Geology Tour Trail has some great valley views:
After the Geology Tour Trail, I took the paved roads back toward the Cottonwood Springs area. On the way there, the setting sun made a great glow over this camping area:
Unfortunately, the sun was too low to get any pics after this point. I took the Pinkham Canyon Trail down and out of the Park. It was a nice run at twilight. The coming of night brought out lots of desert critters. I saw a packrat, a rabbit, a small flight of quail, and a couple of bats before the light got too low. Even so, with a half moon out, I could still see a lot of the surrounding terrrain.
None of the trails were even moderately difficult for a Jeep in my opinion. I never put Mr. Green in 4WD.
I did capture the 'toughest' portion of Berdoo Canyon on video. If you want to check it out, here is the vid:
I like the area and it is definitely a cool way into the Joshua Tree NP. I think that I would like to explore the Thermal Canyon spur off of Pinkham Cyn if I ever get the chance.
But Jeeping makes everything better, so after I got out of work today I headed east to the Berdoo Canyon Trail. This road heads up into the Joshua Tree National Park from the Indio, CA area.
The road starts out paved from the turn off but degrades at a wash that is very popular for target shooting. Even afterward, the broken pavement makes for sections of easier driving:
But if you keep trying to follow the pavement, the road becomes more challenging than taking the dirt road bypasses. Even so, I never engaged 4-wheel drive for the entire day.
One obstacle on a paved section was not passable without the bypass:
If you keep looking for the paved sections and following them, they lead to the Berdoo Water Camp:
This was a temporary camp for the workers that were working on the Colorado River Aqueduct construction project that began in 1932. The primary work was on a tunnel that ran under the Little San Bernardino Mtns. The tunnel stretched 18 miles with the section under the Berdoo Water Camp being over five miles long and 2000 feet below the surface. A mining camp for water is amusing to me.
The camp had a hospital that is the only building with any structure left:
The road continues up the hill above the Water Camp, but the only thing at the top is a nice view:
After the Water Camp, the road turns to dirt completely and follows the wash up the canyon. At the border to the Joshua Tree NP, there is a sign:
On the way up, I got out of the way to let two of these pass:
Both had some friendly, very Austrailian-accented folks in them. These were seriously equiped offroad vehicles. I hoped to capture the Austrailian website that was printed on the rigs, but all my photos were too far away to make it readable. These were definitely two sponsored vehicles.
I want one. Just Sayin'.
After getting out of the narrows of the canyon, the upper part of the pass has a veiw all the way to the Salton Sea in the distance:
The drop down to the Geology Tour Trail has some great valley views:
After the Geology Tour Trail, I took the paved roads back toward the Cottonwood Springs area. On the way there, the setting sun made a great glow over this camping area:
Unfortunately, the sun was too low to get any pics after this point. I took the Pinkham Canyon Trail down and out of the Park. It was a nice run at twilight. The coming of night brought out lots of desert critters. I saw a packrat, a rabbit, a small flight of quail, and a couple of bats before the light got too low. Even so, with a half moon out, I could still see a lot of the surrounding terrrain.
None of the trails were even moderately difficult for a Jeep in my opinion. I never put Mr. Green in 4WD.
I did capture the 'toughest' portion of Berdoo Canyon on video. If you want to check it out, here is the vid:
I like the area and it is definitely a cool way into the Joshua Tree NP. I think that I would like to explore the Thermal Canyon spur off of Pinkham Cyn if I ever get the chance.
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