Joshua Tree National Park + pics

[nightrider]

Had a place to stay in Joshua Tree this Sunday so I bought some long johns and took ACH out of town in the afternoon. Got to Newcombs Ranch and had a burger.

The bartender happened to mention the road was closed up ahead. I had to backtrack to the previous turnoff and detour pretty far to the north before I could head east again. The directions on my tank were pretty much useless now. It got dark and cold while I was up there. I was kinda lost but just heading east.

I had to stop for gas, directions, and to buy a pair of $2.99 gloves to wear under my summer ones. I tucked my 3 shirts into my jeans and was still shivering. When you shiver on the bike your arms want to flap like a chicken.

Got back on track but took a wrong onramp onto the 15 since no one marked it north or south, and ended up going WAY back south to within 60 miles of LA. After a very long ride I finally made it to the 10 and then after much more riding, got the 62 to Joshua Tree. It was a little grueling but the southern air was warmer and the GS held up nice at least. I pretty much doubled my travel time and distance over plans. Should have been about 150mi and ended up being 250-300, took me about 6 hours all told.

Rolled into Joshua Tree at night. Windy and cold. Plenty of stars and the tan sand looks like snow in the moonlight. The main strip resembles  any other main strip anywhere. I had been expecting a two lane road with some saloons, airstream trailers, and a joshua tree.



The park has some pretty fantastic rock formations. It's kinda prehistoric. Barren and beautiful. Im used to forested wilderness and not desert landscapes like this. Brings to mind dinosaurs, old Hollywood westerns and Carlos Castaneda. Oh, and the movie Twentynine Palms, which showed the area off in an incredible way even if the end sucked.











On the way back I stopped at Morongo Casino to eat, but mostly to play Texas Hold Em. I bought $60 in chips and got a little lucky early but ended up spending it all seeing flops and calling high bets. Bought another $60 and lost it all too. Not enough cards my way and I folded twice where I would have won. Sucks. I think I need to work on my pokerface too. Whatre you gonna do.



The GS at 19k has surprised me with its reliability. The riding position is not comfortable for long periods, but I can't complain. I just alternate laying on my left arm on the tank, hunching, and sitting upright.

I think I'm just going to ride the sh1t out of this bike until it quits.

Nightrider

[substudio]

Wow. That looked like a nice ride. 

I'm thinking of heading in that direction for a ride as soon as my bike is ready.
Maybe out to slab city.

[Domindart]

very cool.  Is that a guy up there?? 

[ohgood]

Man I love the desert sky. Very nice shots ! What are you using for stitching the panoramas ? I bookmarked your photobucket pages in my "cool gs stuff" also 

Also, I just noticed photobucket leaves the EXIF data in tact too ! WOOT !

If you're going to ride in the cold, check out some cuddleduds. They're like silk under drawers, warm but super thin. Paper shopping bag on your chest can keep the heat in and cold out. Snag a balaclava for the neck and chin.

Hey, did I request more pictures yet ?

Yep, the gs will just keep on going. I'm going to turn over 20,000 this week on my 98. 

[nightrider]

Domindart yeah there were two guys up top of that rock. I was at that spot about five minutes and the whole time he was messing with his ropes. A lot of rock formations out there had climbers, many are set up with parking and maybe campgrounds.

Ohgood, yeah the sky is really blue, I was paying attention mostly to the land while I was there but in the pictures it pops amazingly. No photoshop or tweaking.

My Canon Powershot A530 came with a program called Zoombrowser EX. It's not perfect but the stitching is very quick and painless. Here's a couple more.









If you look off to the right in the pic above you can see downtown LA. I might be wrong but I think this was on ACH where this was still possible.

[ohgood]

Ya man

Thanks for the tip  on the stitcher. I used Hugin with Enblend on Linux (it's very rough and crashes, but makes  NICE pictures). I have HP Photosmart Stitch that came with the hp crapware for my all-in-one printer. Hate to say it, but it's the easiest to use so far, and yields results similar to Hugin.

Do you shoot with a panorama scene assist on the camera  ?

Thanks for posting more shots, fantastic. I've been critisized by family/friends for shooting too much sky in the desert. You just can't make people understand how blue and clear it gets out there

Ride on - and SHOOT

[nightrider]

Im noticing right now the sky in LA is pretty dang blue too. Shots with lots of sky can be great if there is an interesting reference point. I guess my current avatar pic would fall in that category... I havent tried stitching regular pics yet but the stitch assist shots are somewhat limited, so I'll do it eventually. Glad you like the pics! It was a fun trip, a lil tiring, but glad I followed through.

[ohgood]

Im noticing right now the sky in LA is pretty dang blue too. Shots with lots of sky can be great if there is an interesting reference point. I guess my current avatar pic would fall in that category... I havent tried stitching regular pics yet but the stitch assist shots are somewhat limited, so I'll do it eventually. Glad you like the pics! It was a fun trip, a lil tiring, but glad I followed through.

Cool 

[yamahonkawazuki]

  you know its not nice to tease wih nice pics lol

[gatling]

Great report.  I've ridden to Joshua Tree a couple of times and it is a great ride.  Good to see that the GS held up well in this kind of riding.  That's a lot of miles!

[nastynate6695]

congrats on the long ride.  Dont look at getting lost as a bad thing though ... look at it as more of an adventure and a great story to tell later.   Tell me you did at least a little climbing while you were there.  Joshua tree is one of the mecca's for boulderer's, free climbers, and top ropers in the united states.  i know guys where if you mention that place they get all stary eyed and zone out for a minute.

[FearedGS500]

if you plan on riding that bike till it dies plan on rideing  it for the rest of your life i bought my first GS500F in 2005 with 2 miles on it .. a year and half later it had 25k on it . i rode that bike like no other.. now i'm on a 2007 CBR600RR when i bought it ... it had 2 miles on it .. i bought it in july ...it now has 9k on it enjoy the GS its a blast .. i wish i would not have traded it in .. i would have loved to keep it around for a track bike !