Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, Death Valley & Yosemite

Sep 19

Traveling in California during fires, COVID, and extreme heat waves was an interesting experience but one I’ll surely never forget. First and foremost, this was a work trip. Yep, adventuring in 4 National Parks is indeed a part of my job.

Quick note: I’m a social media manager for a graphic design firm. The largest part of our business is creating artwork and products of the National Parks. We sell our stuff in Parks gift shops and even some just outside! So many of our customers take our posters, postcards, stickers and Adventure Guides to Parks so we decided to join in the fun. Our objective was to take photos & videos for social media and to showcase our products all around Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, and Yosemite.

We landed in Los Angeles, drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Ventura to hit up Channel Islands first!

Channel Islands

Located just off the coast are 5 islands that make up Channel Islands National Park. We took a ferry out to Anacapa Island — the smallest, but most visited one! To be honest unless you’re camping, there’s not a whole lot to actually do on the island. Depending on the time of year, you can swim, snorkel & SCUBA but mostly it’s just hiking and taking in the panoramic Pacific views. The two highlights of Anacapa Island are Inspiration Point and Arch Rock. It was extremely beautiful and HOT (the re occurring theme you’ll see throughout these travels). We caught views of California sea lions swimming around sailboats and dolphins following our trail back to the coast. The working lighthouse on the island unfortunately prohibits you from getting too close so there is a stopping point on the trail that leads up to it.

Arch Rock can’t be seen while you’re on the island, but thankfully Island Packers took us around on our way out. Anacapa Island is stunning, but it’s definitely more of a day-trip kinda of National Park. I found that many local Californians take their own boats out there or will just spend the day swimming or snorkeling for fun (a very different concept for this Nashvillian). Experiencing these islands with clear blue skies and even bluer waters was the perfect kick-off to our trip.

Joshua Tree

Our next stop was Joshua Tree! We headed out of Ventura, saw the El Dorado fires in its early stages (so scary & intense even from afar), passed through Palm Springs and turned down some dirt roads that lead to our AirBnB. It was already dark so the middle-of-nowhere BnB seemed way more daunting driving to at night. The property is fenced in and the place was very hipster-chic-trendy complete with a record player that came with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Bon Iver and Beyoncé records — basically most of what I already listen to. However, there were no blinds or curtains on any of the windows. 30 minutes of Googling and trying to get creative finally lead us to putting the shower curtain within the window frame of the bedroom so we could sleep safely & soundly.

Posted in JT were many signs of extreme heat warnings and recommendations to not hike after 10 a.m. So we hiked and got photos early in the morning to catch good lighting and not risk getting overheated. The NPS suggests eating salty snacks and drinking tons of electrolytes and water (needless to say, I was more hydrated than I ever have been in my life). The temperature was rising quickly and the breeze blowing felt like a hair dyer on a high setting. By 10 a.m., it was 109 degrees. We embarked on Arch Rock Trail which was 0.3 miles and were on our way back to the car — at this point, it was after 10 but we were drinking water and were moving briskly to get back. Both my coworker and I started to feel some heat exhaustion and got a little woozy. We realized the warning signs & heat itself in the desert is no joke.

After that, our day was indeed cut short but we got plenty of content for the day. That night, we headed into Palm Springs for pizza & cocktails. I was even able to find some Dole Whip downtown which is the best way to end any day, really. Our second day in Joshua Tree had unfortunately brought in lots of smoke from the nearby fires. With that in mind, we decided to spend very limited time outdoors and not do any hiking. We drove through the Park and stopped at a few stop-offs and vistas to end our time in Yucca Valley.

Death Valley

We ditched the dirt roads and went up north to Ridgecrest, the last city/town before Death Valley National Park. Looking at a map, DV looks big but I didn’t just how big. I was completely and totally overwhelmed in the best way. The drive is just around 2 hours with absolutely nothing in between but the wild & rugged terrain leading into the Park. With many prayers of not popping a tire or running into any overheating problems, we hit up Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes first. This place was extra special to me considering it was a filming location for Star Wars in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. I couldn’t help but see Tatooine everywhere I looked.

We took off to Zabriskie Point, which was very peaceful and left us pretty speechless. Next up was Artists Road to Artists Palette. Everywhere we were going to at this point had little to no visitors. The temperatures held steady in the 90’s so we continued to keep our stopping points short. Our finale of the day was Badwater Basin: the lowest, driest, hottest place in the U.S. All in all, Death Valley to me was so underrated. It’s massive and its other-worldly terrain made it unforgettable and left me wishing I could spend more time there. The infamous sailing stones was sadly far off on the other side of the Park so I put it in my “next time” list. This place left quite an impression on me and I would definitely want to camp inside the bounds of the 3 million acres.

Yosemite

We said g’bye to the heat and desert landscapes and made the picturesque trek up the Eastern Sierras to Mammoth Lakes. We entered into the thickest smoke and worst air quality at this point. Mammoth Lakes is normally a ski town so it was pretty empty as is. Surrounded by Inyo National Forest which was now closed at this point due to the threat of wildfires spreading, we opted for dinner inside our comfy & cozy condo inside of an outdoor meal with views (which was no longer possible at this point).

Yosemite was the only Park that required a reservation. We had hopes of a sunny morning so we packed up and headed out early. The drive from Mammoth to the Park entrance was about 45 minutes. The skies looked clear at the entrance but the further we got in, the thicker the smoke became. Knowing that this was totally out of our control, we decided that no matter what we would make the best out of this day and see all that we possibly could. Fortunately, driving from Tioga Pass meant that we would drive through almost the entirety of the Park before hitting Yosemite Valley and all of the hot spots.

We were able to hike to Yosemite Falls (the Lower Falls), although they were dried up. Spring is the best time to visit and see the water flowing as the snow has melting off the mountains and is gushing into the falls. We parked off to catch serene moments in front of El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks. It was very cool to sit and watch in awe imagining those who have taken on climbing these granite beasts. We took the drive up to Glacier Point in hopes of seeing Half Dome and Sentinel Dome but the smoke was entirely too thick and we couldn’t see a thing. Again, mentally taking note that I must return to Yosemite. Same for Tunnel View of Yosemite Valley — we hit another misty wall. I was still very grateful to be there and am itching to go back.

In Conclusion + Gear

We exited Yosemite and had an uneventful sleep stop in Modesto. We arose the next morning to spend our last day in San Francisco. The smoke had cleared for the most part, but we did experience the notorious heavy fog. We drove around all the cool spots, ate acai bowls for lunch and ended the night with takeout and Princess Diaries (still can’t believe I was on the same streets as the iconic Julie Andrews).