Joshua Tree National Park
Twentynine Palms, California
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Clear, 101°
“You can shake the sand from your shoes, but not from your soul.”
One of my favorite places to visit with great memories is Joshua Tree National Park. There are some great hiking trails, rock formations to climb and picture taking opportunities at every turn. The landscape varies from the South entrance off Interstate 10 to the Northern entrances in the towns of Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree (JT).
Joshua Tree National Park Sign
Joshua Tree National Park is a vast protected area in southern California. It's characterized by rugged rock formations and stark desert landscapes. Named for the region’s twisted, bristled Joshua trees, the park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler.
Joshua Tree
Keys View, looks out over the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs with a distant view of the Salton Sea. Hiking trails weave through the boulders of Hidden Valley and other areas of the Park.
Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act (Public Law 103-433), it had been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the park. It covers a land area of 790,636 acres (1,235.37 sq mi) — an area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. A large part of the park, some 429,690 acres, is a designated wilderness area. Straddling the border between San Bernardino County and Riverside County, the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park. (Wikipedia)
Driving in from Interstate 10 south entrance of the park, the Cottonwood Entrance is just a few mile down the road. There, you can check-in to the campgrounds or the Park itself. The rangers are very helpful, answering questions or giving information about things or conditions within the Park. Originally, I wanted to camp here for four days to have time to explore several different areas within the Park but decided it was better to just do it as a day trip. Remote camping, with no power or facilities, in over a hundred degree temperatures just didn’t make sense so changing plans was the smart thing to do.
The Cottonwood Springs area has a campground which is located near the south entrance of the park; Cottonwood Springs is a desert oasis that offers a respite from the arid lands around it. Willows and birds are found in abundance near this natural spring. There is great hiking here on several trails. I hiked Mastodon Peak several years ago; it was a great experience seeing the ruggedness with the Cactus all around, large boulders to navigate then working my way through several washes getting back to the campground.
Cool Composition
Being in the RV, this next section would have been interesting but could not be driven in an RV. Geology Tour Road is for four-wheel drive vehicles. They are recommended but not always necessary (check with rangers) for this eighteen mile dirt road. Along this route are numerous interesting geologic formations and trails.
As you drive through the South end of the park, you are in the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert. The Cholla Cactus Garden, on Pinto Basin Road, begins with a short walk on a circular path through a thick stand of cholla cactus, noted for its especially prickly exterior.
Cholla Catus
The Jumbo Rocks area is one of the most popular and sought-out destinations in the park. The land transition is astonishing in that you drive higher in elevation from the Colorado Desert country up onto the Mojave Desert. All of a sudden the scenery changes from a great barren plain to these huge boulders of varying colors and shapes.
Boulder City
It looks like somewhere NASA would train for the Moon Missions.
ET lying down
This area is known for its spectacular giant rock formations. Hidden canyons abound in several directions. There is parking, even for RV’s, where hiking is encouraged, especially the easy-to-moderate trail to Skull Rock.
Skull Rock
Split Rock Trail is also in this area and both can easily be done on the same day.
View from Skull Rock
It is hot so bring plenty of water so you can re-hydrate in the desert heat. There are several campsites available in the Area.
Face Rock
Jumbo Rocks campground includes an amphitheater where Park Rangers lead science and history tours. Others in this area are: Belle and White Tank to the South and Ryan and Hidden Valley to the West just off the main road.
The drive to Keys View passes Cap Rock, where the storied legend of Gram Parsons’ cremation took place (I’ll end this post with that story).
Cap Rock
You ascend up the mountain a few miles and come to a parking area and overlook. This overlook, with an elevation of 5,185 feet above sea level, is an extremely popular spot for watching the sunset. On rare clear days, the view extends over the Salton Sea to Mexico. Today it was clear but blowing sand and dust gave a light brown wash to the mountains. You could see the Salton Sea, the Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault, Palm Springs, and on the southwest horizon, Mexico, about 90 miles away.
Keys view looking toward Palm Springs, California
There was a circular path up the hill that gave different views of the Valley below and the brown hazy smog layer coming in from Los Angeles to the west.
Overall, Joshua Tree is a great place to check out, especially in early spring before the summer scorching temperatures climb into the triple digits. March, April, and May are ideal times to visit and explore this wonderful place.
It has always been an out of the way get away place for many people over the years. Like Big Sur and Taos, Joshua Tree has long been an outpost on the vagabond-hipster trail. Favored by explorers looking for the wide-open, Wild West feeling in the modern-day frontier, it is famous for its gnarled, pleasingly grotesque trees and lunar-like boulders. JT began luring artists and musicians hoping to escape the urban glare. I remember the news back in 1973 when country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons notoriously overdosed at the Joshua Tree Inn, Room 8. Numerous other musicians of that era, like Keith Richards, Donovan, and Jim Morrison, were also fond of taking the occasional, well, desert trip.
I said I would finish this with a funny and weird story about Gram Parsons untimely death and the “funeral” held by friends. This is a reprint of the story from several years ago.
The Strange Tale of Gram Parsons’ Funeral in Joshua Tree
Gram Theft Burrito or Gram Theft Byrd – You Decide?
Gram Parsons was considered a pioneer of the country rock movement of the late 1960’s into the 1970’s until his death on September 19, 1973 at the age of 26. Though Gram achieved some success in his lifetime, he was never a superstar — but he did influence many bands including The Eagles and The Rolling Stones. He was a member of two country rock bands, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers; he later became a solo artist, and often performed with Emmylou Harris. In the years after his death he has become a legend. You may ask, why is this a DesertUSA blog and what does Gram Parsons have to do with the Mojave Desert? Keep reading to find out a small part of the interesting life story of a Byrd and a Burrito named Gram Parsons and how it is related to the Mojave Desert.
In the late 1960’s, the Joshua Tree National Monument, later to become a National Park, became the hangout for many celebrities and musicians because this out of the way haven was only a few hours’ drive from Los Angeles. Gram Parsons was introduced to the Mojave Desert around this time and would frequent the Joshua Tree area on the weekends, often accompanied by his road manager, Phil Kaufman, and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones; in-fact, some of Gram’s country influence can be heard in music of The Rolling Stones at that time, in the early 1970’s. Gram loved the Hi-Desert and did many photo shoots in it.
Windswept Joshua Tree
He used to hang out at local bars and would often stay at the Joshua Tree Inn. He would visit the National Monument at night looking at the stars and searching the heavens for UFOs.
During a friend’s funeral in 1973, a few months before Parsons’ own death, it was discussed between Parsons and Kaufman that if either of them were to die prematurely, they wanted their body taken to the desert at Joshua Tree. They were to have one last drink with the corpse and then burn the body in the desert. This was the pact that led to the events I will now describe.
A few months after this pact had been discussed Gram checked into room 8 at the Joshua Tree Inn on September 17th, 1973 for a couple days with a few friends. During this visit Gram consumed a lot of drugs and alcohol. Kaufman was not there on this trip, and after two days of heavy partying, on the 19th Gram overdosed on both morphine and alcohol. As Kaufman was Parsons’ road manager and good friend, he was immediately called but by the time he got to the Inn, Gram’s body was already removed and was in the morgue of the hospital in Yucca Valley. Kaufman gathered up Gram’s belongings, cleaned up any drug evidence and headed back home to Los Angeles. After a day of drinking and thinking about their pact and remembering Gram’s dislike for his step-father in Louisiana and also thinking of his words at the friend’s funeral a few months earlier that he had not wanted a long, depressing, religious service with family and friends, Kaufman went into action.
Kaufman called the mortuary in Yucca Valley and found out that the body would be driven to the Los Angeles International Airport and then flown on Continental Airlines to New Orleans. He called the airline’s mortuary service and found out that the body would arrive that evening, and then recruited several friends that knew about the pact and borrowed a hearse that was used for camping trips. It had no license plates and several broken windows, but he thought that it would do. They tried on suits, but decided they looked so ridiculous that they changed into their tour clothes, Levi’s, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and jackets with “Sin City” stitched on the back. They loaded the hearse up with beer and Jack Daniels and headed for the airport.
Kaufman and his friend Michael Martin arrived at the loading dock just as a flatbed truck rolled up with the Parsons casket. A drunken Kaufman somehow persuaded an airline employee that the Parsons family had changed its plans and wanted to ship the body privately on a chartered flight. While Kaufman was in the office signing the paperwork with a phony name a policeman pulled up blocking the hangar door. Seeing this Kaufman was sure that he would be caught but the officer suspected nothing, he just sat there. Kaufman walked over toward him and waved his copies of the paperwork and said, “hey, can you move that car”? The officer apologized and moved the car and then actually helped him load the casket onto a gurney and into the back of the unlicensed, liquor filled hearse. Martin got in the hearse and attempted to drive out of the hangar only to run into the wall on his way out. The officer observed all this, and commented, “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes now”, and then he left. The two drunken body snatchers left the airport with the body of their friend; they stopped at a gas station in Cabazon near the Interstate 10 dinosaurs in the years before Casino Morongo existed. They filled a gas can and they headed back to Joshua Tree with the body of Gram Parsons.
They reached Joshua Tree and drove until they were too drunk to drive any farther. They stopped at Cap Rock in The Joshua Tree National Monument, a landmark geological formation, and unloaded their friend’s coffin, and then Kaufman saw car lights in the distance and concluded the police were coming. He quickly opened the casket, played a personal joke on the dead Parsons that they used to do to each other in life, doused Gram with the gasoline and threw a match in the casket. The two watched as a giant fireball rose from the coffin, the skin on Grams naked body began blistering, the ashes rising into the desert night. As the headlights in the distance got closer the pair quickly drove off and headed for home in Los Angeles.
After a trip home filled with close calls, Kaufman and Martin laid low. The morning after their return, the newspapers were full of the story of the rock star’s hijacked and burnt corpse, speculating that the amateur cremation may have been a satanic ritual.
Kaufman knew the police were looking for him, so after a few weeks, he and Martin just turned themselves in. They appeared in Court on Parsons’ 27th birthday, November 5, 1973. At the time there was no law against stealing a corpse and since a corpse has no intrinsic value, the two were charged with misdemeanor theft for stealing the coffin and given a slap on the wrist, $708 in damages for the coffin, and a $300 fine for each of the body snatchers. A few years after the incident, Kaufman ran into Keith Richards and Keith thanked him and said “I heard that you took care of our pal”. Kaufman’s adventure has been legendary in rock and country music circles ever since.
Over the years there have been books, movies and many discussions of this incident that began in Joshua Tree, continued in Los Angeles and ended up back in Joshua Tree. There are yearly concerts and have been many tribute albums to Gram Parsons. People visit and intentionally stay in room 8 at the Joshua Tree Inn, even holding séances in the room. The cremation area at Cap Rock in Joshua Tree National Park still has people visit the spot but being a National Park all personal monuments to Gram are removed by the Park, so the site always looks different as fans make pilgrimages, leave items, paint on the boulders to leave some kind of remembrance, then they are removed by the Park and the cycle begins again. What became of Gram’s famous rhinestone studded Nudie suit? It resides in the country music hall of fame in Nashville Tennessee. I suppose you can say that Gram became larger than life after his young life ended, as happens to many musicians that die at a young age.
Now you know the story of the theft of a Burrito and the theft of a Byrd that are actually one and the same, about the theft of Gram Parsons in 1973.
Traveling Life’s Highways finding the stories or things you may not have known. Make it a great Day!