Thursday, Feb 1 Death Valley National Park (Stovepipe Wells Campground) to Joshua Tree National Park (Black Rock Canyon)

Deb here. I woke up about 5 this morning to roaring wind gusts and rain. I’ve never been in the van when it’s been bumped around by so much wind! It felt as though we were on a boat during a storm. Milo managed to sleep through the whole event!
The wind eventually died down, and by 7 it was just a drizzling rain without much wind. The van was covered in sand/mud from the evening. We had our coffee and tea in the van and drove the remaining miles toward the park exit, stopping at the great Furnace Creek Visitor Center. This was a good one, with informative displays about the history and topography, along with a 20 minute movie about the park.

After our visit we ate some breakfast in the van and drove off toward Death Valley Junction outside the park. What a desolate landscape, with almost no settlements. In DV Junction we turned south on 127 toward Tecopa. Hannah had filled us in on a couple of places she’d been to near Tecopa, so we detoured off the main road to check them out. Rain all the way, which must be pretty unusual for the area.
We passed the numerous campgrounds advertising hot springs in Tecopa, and set google maps for China Valley Date Ranch, a place Hannah had mentioned. Milo just about turned back as we drove down a steep dirt road in the rain, but we made it to the date oasis in the desert. Pretty funky place, with a gift shop and date products for sale, along with hiking trails and picnic spot. Too rainy to explore outside, but I had a super delicious date shake (can’t resist those tasty treats) and John ordered coffee and a date muffin. Fun place.
Back on the road. No traffic until we reached Rt 15 in Baker and then lots of traffic all the way until we left the interstate in Barstow.

Our plan was to head for a Joshua Tree National Park campground in the northwest corner of the park, and the last couple of hours was on a quieter two lane road. There was a bunch of trucks and campers pulling 4-wheelers that all turned off at one point for what looked for a backcountry race through the desert of some kind. 

We arrived in the campground at 4:30, still raining, and set up camp for the night. Nice campground but it looks as though this area was hit badly by flooding, and the roads within the campground are pretty rough. We repeated our last night’s dinner of raw veggies, tomato soup, and grilled cheese sandwiches, and watched the last 2 episodes of the Terminal List before bed.

odometer = 23964