Walk report: Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Hello, everyone.

This is the last of the walk reports from our drive to California. On our way home, instead of clinging to I-10, we cut off at El Paso to visit GMNP. This was our first visit to the park.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of the wilder parks in the system. They have a small visitor's center with bathroom. They have some camping facilities. There are no concessions with food, drinks, gasoline, etc.

A number of the visiting trails are convenient to the front entrance. We picked up a map and headed out onto a short-to-medium length hike: The Devil's Hall Trail.This is an out-and-back trail, not a loop. The whole trip is somewhere around 4 miles. (About 6.4 km)

Approaching the park on the highway. The day was coming onto pretty warm, as the hard blue sky and isolated white cloud show.

We carried water bottles with us and were glad we remembered. We had not brought our hiking poles, but they would have come in handy a couple of times.

At the start of the trail, a marker naming the various trails that connect to this point. Where trails diverge, there is a marker indicating which goes where.

After following the trail for some winding about between hills, we found a metal sign advising us that the trail continues on in the dry wash (the creek bed) and I wondered if they close the tail when there's a big rain in the area.

We saw an interesting tree whose roots are going into the rock between the layers of stone.

The wash became extremely rocky. There was some clambering around. (We missed our hiking poles!)

At the end, there was a rock formation called a natural stairway.

 It was layers of hard rock, eroded to somewhat resemble a steep marble staircase. As one might expect from the location and kind of rock, the surface was somewhat slick. Past the first little "stairs" there was a pothole, a pool that appears to have no outlet, with some water in it. Proceeding past the pothole, there were a few more steps of "stairs," wider to walk on this time, and then we reached the "Devil's Hall."

The Devil's Hall is a very steep-sided canyon with walls that resemble dressed stone. The park administrators had closed the area beyond the entrance due to "sensitive wildlife," presumably nesting creatures of one kind or another. It is very important to conserve the beauty of the park by not going into prohibited areas.

 On the way back, we discovered that the little trail mark symbols we remembered from youth came in very handy to find the return route. Oddly enough, the way back didn't look quite like the way out! If you visit, don't disturb the little rock stacks. They are an important part of making the park enjoyable for anyone who can walk the trail.

Trail mark, meaning "go straight ahead here." The only really tricky part of finding our way back to the parking lot was picking up the trail where the way leaves the wash and goes onto the hillside again. These little rock markers are invaluable!

Due in part to the climbing over and around the various boulders and rocks, the trail took about 2 to 3 hours. At the car, we pulled out a snack (Dukes links) and drank some of our newly refilled water bottles and headed on down the road.

This park is somewhat off the beaten path, and one must fill the gas tank and get drinks/snacks before going as there are no facilities at the park entrance, but it is very enjoyable and well worth the trip.

Walk report: San Pedro, California

Hello, everyone.

While visiting folks on our recent trip, we were introduced to a lovely walk in San Pedro, California. It started out just a stroll in the neighborhood. (Lots of pretty gardens there!) Suddenly we were walking along a dirt path alongside a fence. At the end of the fence, we found a steep downhill trail--the cliff path. It led down to the rocks of the shore.

 Looking down at the top of the trail

View of the Channel Islands from the trail

The path with wildflowers

The walk wasn't long, but because of the height change it was very invigorating. When our relative called it a "hike" she wasn't exaggerating.

One can't even tell that on the other side of the top is a city!

Walk report: Joshua Tree National Park

Hello, everyone.

Sorry about the hiatus in posting. I forgot. And there is, as usual, a wait list on sewing projects.

During our recent trip to visit family, we did a few walks. South Mountain Park has already been talked about.

Today I will mention that we also visited Joshua Tree National Park. This park is adjacent to Interstate 10 and just west of the California state border. (For those who remember, the infamous state ag department plant checkpoints don't appear to be staffed any more.) There are very few services in the area, as it's remote. Plan of bringing water and snacks with you if you're wanting to do a long walk. Also, of course, the usual desert area clothes should be worn as appropriate to the season.

The cutoff to the park entrance that one comes to while driving west looks like nothing. Take the exit, it's the only one as far as we could tell. It's straightforward, in that there are almost no crossing lanes between the highway and the park.

Part of Joshua Tree is in the low desert, and well furnished with such typical plants as ocotillo and some saguaro. The other part of the park is in the "medium" desert, neither low altitude and hot enough to be "low" nor high altitude and potentially cooler so as to be "high." The medium desert zone has as its famous plant the park's name plant, Joshua trees. These are an extra large species of yucca.

Another desert plant that grows in flocks in some parts of Joshua Tree is cholla cactus. This little thing that looks so cute from a distance is related to prickly pear cacti. Like them, if you touch it you will most likely get a flock of large and small (glochid) spines. In some places people plant cholla as a defensive hedge.

(We once had a prickly pear (nopal) hedge, it was pretty in bloom but a menace to beginning bicycle riders. It hid a huge cutter ant colony, too. Until we took the hedge out to put in a fence, we had no idea where the many, many attacks on our trees and shrubs were coming from.)

Cholla Garden cacti

There is a lovely short stroll near a cholla patch. They have helpfully placed some parking there. If I remember right, the park calls this the "Cholla Garden" as there are tons of chollas close together there.

Jumbo Rocks jack rabbit, with rocks

Farther on, we stopped at a rock outcrop called, I think, the Jumbo Rocks. I think they're granite, much eroded and really "neato" to look at and walk around. This area also has a parking area, and a couple of little tables to eat lunch at. (Bring your own picnic. And *pack out your trash.* I think I may have seen a restroom there. Check on the park map for restroom locations, campsite locations, entry gates, etc. There are no concession shops.)

Among the many very large rocks, and the amazing blooming cacti, there was a jackrabbit.

We got to Joshua Tree around 9 in the morning, an ideal time for strolling in the warm/hot desert. By the time we left, after a couple of strolls and reading some interpretive signs, it was nearing noon. We left by the gate at 29 Palms, a small city in California. I think there were about 20 cars and 30 motorcycles in  the entrance lane.

This is a really nice park for people who like to walk in the desert--some walking trails are rather long and you're supposed to sign the board at the trail head before you head out on them--and view nature.

This year was an exceptional year for the spring blossoms in the California desert. One final picture from Joshua Tree National Park:

So I looked at Needlenthread, the blog of Ms. Corbett, and was inspired

Hello, everyone.

Ms. Corbett has a very helpful and inspiring blog about needlework. She emphasizes surface embroidery, and it's always fun to drop by there and see what's up. There is a link to her blog along the side.

Recently she mentioned that she has a big magnifier for her embroidery station, by a window, and showed what she is doing to keep the lens covered while she's not working with it. She also mentioned that keeping a magnifier covered when the sun is out can be an important safety habit.

This inspired me to see what I could do to keep mine covered, as it's recently been set up by a window as well.

This took only around three hours to cut out, embroider, and sew. All parts were found in the stash-on-hand, too!

The fabric is some ivory polyester dupioni that was left over from a wedding dress a while back. User tip, I should have secured the edges of the piece before putting it into the Qsnap frame. It frayed quite a bit and loose threads had to be corralled a lot. Because of the nature of this fabric, the cover bag was sewn up with French seams on the sides and a folded over double seam at the top.

The flowers were just sketched with a pencil. The threads are cotton floss, two strands. The floss could be DMC, or Anchor, or some random brand. The cover is not expected to be washed, anyway. And there are quite a few bits and bobs of thread on little cards to use up.

The stems are stem stitch, the leaves a variation on feather stitch. The blossoms are daisy stitch, with French knots in the centers.

The casing is ribbon. So is the drawstring.

This was a fun little project and solved a need as well.