Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Palm Springs - PART II: Tragedy at Joshua Tree

Since we still had a few hours before sunset, we decided to take a short hike in the National Park.

We went to the Cottonwood Spring Nature Trail because the guidebook described it as short and easy.
The alleged spring was as desolate as the rest of the landscape.

OK. So I am not all that crazy about deserts - or oceans. The path was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding desert but my iPhone compass kept us on track.

Everything was fine until we reached a stretch called Little Chilcoot Pass where boulders block the wash.
As usual, Chris was several yards ahead (is it his Chinese heritage or the fact that his legs are twice as long as mine?)
I started down the boulders and called out to him, "I'm afraid I'm going to knock my camera on these rocks." Then my feet crossed and I went cartwheeling down the rocks. Chris ran back to THE CAMERA and said, "I should have taken it from you before you fell."

Well, the LCD was cracked and my beloved lens was slightly bent. I killed my camera.

I also bruised my entire left side and scraped my right elbow and knee. My scrapes and bruises will eventually heal and no bones were broken but my poor camera! I wanted to cry but, instead I got up, brushed myself off and kept on going.

We took a different way back that required us to climb some pretty steep rocks. Chris was ahead and I could see that he was slipping so I braced myself against a ledge and caught him. The sun was beginning to set and the temperature was plummeting by the time we escaped.

When we finally returned to the hotel, we headed straight for the bar which surrounded a firepit. to enjoy a well-deserved drink.

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