Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mid-March Adventure - Joshua Tree!

I've been quiet the last few weeks about doing any trips, but I'm still sticking to my New Year's resolution of doing atleast one mini-tour a month. For March, Laura and I (and hopefully some friends if I can convince them) are heading out to Joshua Tree!

Here's a rough map of our proposed adventure.





The plan originated because one of our friends is in a band called The Fling. They have a gig in Pioneertown and we wanted to go see them. So the gears started turning. I got some maps from AAA (I'm a AAA member almost exclusively for all the free maps...great for touring...thanks Chris for the tip!) and started planning. By combining the Metrolink, we are able to get to San Bernadino which brought us to a rideable distance to Pioneertown. Not content with just going home, we decided to extend the trip to Joshua Tree and to the Salton Sea before going back home. Thus, an adventure is born.

If anyone is interested in meeting up with us along the way, zip me an email.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've looked at a similar route before and found it difficult to connect the outlets to the highway to JTree. Hopefully the AAA maps will help. There are a lot of dirt road if you are cool with that. You might have to get on the 10.

Anonymous said...

Sean and I will be camping in Josh with a group of friends in Indian Cove that weekend. Sadly I work Friday and so will have to take four wheels to get there.... You guys are really tempting me on this whole bike tour thing, I have to say. Have to get a bike and gear first. All this is to say, if you guys are around Indian Cove, stop and say Hi.

RussRoca said...

Amy...ha...that's awesome. I think we'll definitely roll by there when we come down from Pioneer town. We should be in that general area around Sat. afternoon.

Regarding the bike, REI is having their 20% member sale :) The Novara Safari or Randonee are pretty good tourers. And if you don't like them you can always return them. God bless the REI return policy :)

JPTwins said...

Dude, Russ, you have to get off of AAA and get on this "car/bike" roadside assistance:
http://betterworldclub.com/bicycles/index.htm

They're much more eco-friendly, like you, and plus in some locations, they have bike assistance, instead of or in addition to car assistance.

the ride sounds fantastic. We'll be down near Escondido in mid April, and based on all your raving, we're going to check out the Stone Brewery!

--Geoff

Anonymous said...

Looks like a fun ride-I have done some riding in and around your proposed route-my parents live in Yucca Valley and I sometimes get some rides in when visiting. A mid-March tour in the desert would be nice-outside my window the snow is falling here east of Seattle.

A more scenic alternative to see more of JT park would be to enter JTNP near the town of Joshua Tree, (West Entrance) and ride across the heart of the park and exit near Cottonwood, Hwy 62 between Josh.Tree and 29 Palms is not particularly scenic, and is just a big busy 4 lane hwy.
PioneerTown is a hoot. The locals call it "Pie Town", which is consistent with my observation that words in excess of 3 syllables aren't used by locals in the high desert areas of the Morongo Basin through to to Twentynine Palms (just "29" in local speak.
You shouldn't have to spend any time on I-10.

Kwikfile said...

Russ,

A friend of mine completed the "Southern Cross" this fall. Here is a link from Riverside to Banning, of course there are more pages beyond. This may help in routing/conditions. getting to Banning and on through to Palm springs/cut off to Joshua Tree is kinda gnarly. Sounds awesome - I maybe in Jtree that same time car camping with my one of my boys. Hope to see you.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=91198&v=Lg

Peace,

Carl