California

Joshua Tree National Park

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Jumbo Rocks Campground

The common meme here is that the eponymous trees remind folks of Dr Seuss, but the stars here are the lumpy rocks. Every time I turned around, I half expected the rock monster from Galaxy Quest to stand up. I took this panorama less than 50 feet from my campsite. Exploring around here brings back that childhood sense of wonder, and the actual kids I saw also enjoyed scrambling all over the weird landscape.

Also, the tree that inspired Dr Seuss for the truffala trees in his Lorax story was a Monterey Cyprus, not a Joshua Tree. But it’s not a bad idea to think about the Lorax when visiting any park, since we need to protect our trees more than ever now. And since I’m correcting the record on trivial items, Jumbo Rocks Campground site #113 has plenty of parking for a 15′ 5″ long electric vehicle. The site description says that the parking space is limited to 13 foot long vehicles, and coincidentally I’ve noticed more than once that it is the last campsite available. So, if you have an EV, go ahead and book the site. If you’re driving a gas-guzzler, stay home.

“It’s a rock monster. It doesn’t have motivation.”

Galaxy Quest

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Death Valley National Park

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Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level. Highest peak, Telescope, is over 11,000 feet and is snow-capped.

Death Valley National Park is a repeat park for me. I last came here with my kids when I still traveled by burning carbon. This time I hiked out into the basin, since the grand scale is difficult to comprehend from the parking lot. While a very few species have adapted to the extreme climate, humans can not live here during the summer. And yet every day we choose continued desertification of our planet over choosing to convert from fossil fuels.

“All in the valley of Death, rode the six hundred”

Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

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First EV stop in a National Park Service unit was at the Paramount Ranch. I chose it, because I picked up my Tesla Model 3 in Burbank today.

Not much left to see of the old Western Town that was the TV backdrop for much of my childhood. The climate-change enhanced Woolsey Fire burned almost all of the park land in the Santa Monica Mountains in November 2018. Only the chapel and the railway platform remain. Westworld, Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, and Gunsmoke all filmed here among many others. Most of the buildings were just shells, but the facades made for dramatic sets. 1600 homes were burned, including a number owned by movie and TV stars nearby in Malibu.

Sad to imagine the devastation caused in part by people burning fossil fuels. Still, the trails are nice, including the Love Bug race track, and there were some kids horseback riding. I read somewhere that this is the only National Park unit that contains active television and movie sets.

Click here for an update to this post, or click here for photos of all national park units in California.