Indian Cove Backcountry Board to near Quail Springs Picnic Area and back
(20 miles, +1600/-1,600 feet).

This was my first overnight trip with Half Cookie.  Yesterday, we drove up to Joshua Tree from San Diego where we had a surprisingly good Indian lunch at a place called Sam’s.  We then cached water near Quail Springs picnic area and drove back around to start on the Boy Scout Trail from the Indian Cove backcountry board.

The desert was magnificent, full of desert flower, cactuses, and Joshua Trees.

We made it down to the picnic area around 6pm where we had some dinner.  I’m new at this backpacking thing, so I tried to make Angel Hair pasta without using a stove.  It was a disaster!  Fortunately we had enough snacks that we didn’t go hungry.

While we ate we watched a couple of German guys climbing some boulders nearby.  When they were done they came over and admired our ULA packs.  Half Cookie thought that was quite the seal of approval!

After dinner we headed cross country into the desert about a mile where we were allowed to camp and set up our tent just as the sun was setting.  We sat up for a bit, but we were both tired so we turned in early.

Alas, one major issue in the night was that I had told Half Cookie to drink lots of water during the day.  She had complied, and then needed to get up about 7 times to pee in the middle of the night.  That’s the last time I give her advice about drinking!

The next day we got up early and retraced our steps to the car.  The view at the top of the canyon was pretty amazing.

On the way back, Half Cookie remarked (with some surprise) that “this is really doable.”  I hope this is just the first of many trips we will do together.