We were on the road by 8:30 Thursday morning and had a fairly smooth drive, even with the rain and the two solo-car spinouts into the center divider we passed on the 60. Things started getting interesting as we motored our way up Hwy 62 into Morongo Valley (elevation 2500 feet). Substitute “snowy” for “interesting.” Quite a bit of snow along the sides of the road and upon the hills on both sides of the road. Things got even more interesting (snowier) as we approached Yucca Valley (3300 foot elevation). The rain turned to snow and everything was white. Definitely not what we were expecting, but exciting.

I would first like to apologize to the flowers that I could NOT avoid stepping on during this blooming odyssey. I did my best to avoid you, but in some places it was unavoidable. Yes, I’m talking about you, small white groundcover flowers. You blanketed some areas as far as the eye could see and I applaud you for your effulgence and miniature splendor. I tried to tread lightly and stay on free ground, but I know I hurt some of you.

“With the recent rain storms, why not go check out Surprise Tank,” I thought, “and maybe some of those rock formations beyond the tank which you missed on your last trip.” Everyone talks to themselves, right? So to continue my quest to photograph every rock in Joshua Tree National Park, I set out to see what I could find.

Well, I finally got around to hiking to Fortynine Palms Oasis early this January. The call of the trail was always there, lurking in the back of my mind with all those other cool destinations awaiting their turn. When it managed to bubble to the surface (kinda like those bubbles you see at the La Brea Tar Pits), I thought, why not? Tac3 had been ready to go for a while, so early that Monday morning I hit the road.

The Stirrup Rock area, located near White Tank Campground, is a great place to spend a day hiking, scrambling and photographing. Literally tons of rocks to climb, name, take pictures off, fall off of, get scraped on and explore. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a hidden dam, or Native American campsites with bedrock mortars, pictographs and petroglyphs. If you’re unlucky, you’ll still have a great time.