Joshua Tree National Park

From Lone Pine, we moved south to Yucca Valley, right outside of Joshua Tree National Park. The first day, I took Jan and Kathy to my favorite hike in the park, Wall Street Mill. It starts out with a beautiful stroll through the Joshua Trees.

After a while, off to the left you can see an old pink house.

The fireplace inside.

It even has my initials carved into the outside of the house, but I promise I didn't do it.

And wow, one of the best pieces of rusty stuff is nearby.

Back on the trail, we find a monument that the owner of the property, William Keys, put up after he killed Worth Bagley in a gunfight in 1943. Keys went to jail, but was later pardoned.

Uh-oh, distracted again...

After about a mile, we got to Wall Street Mill, operated by Keys sporadically from 1930-1966, processing gold ore from his mine and the mines of others.

I snuck inside to get a peek. It was really interesting...

After that hike, we did another short hike to Barker Dam.

It was built in the early 1900s by ranchers needing water for their stock.

On the way back to the car, we went by the "Disney Petroglyphs," painted over and ruined by a movie company filming here. (We won't mention which one...)

The only wildlife we saw was this cute little Katydid. I can't believe how much it looks like a leaf!