"Your Joshua Tree Post is Past Due"

There have been several posts I have been meaning to write and today I have run out of excuses.  So here is my first tardy post.  We went camping at Joshua Tree several weeks ago.  On three occasions, while Cindy stayed back at camp with Natalie, I took the boys on special hikes.  The first hike was to Barker Dam, which was not a new hike for us, but the first time that Dominik was going to hike the trail on his own. The boys did very well all the way to the dam.  A dry year meant that the reservoir behind the dam was nearly empty.  I had hoped to get a new picture of Lukas sitting on a boulder overlooking the "lake", like the one I took back in 2009.  But I had my hands full with three young explorers that I did not risk scrambling across boulders with all three of them.  On the return loop Dominik became less than cooperative and was sentenced to time in the backpack.

At the dam Lukas found an interesting rock ledge with two holes in it.  He and Konrad thought it was fun to stand in the holes, and I thought it made for a fun picture.  That was until Lukas said that there were ants all over the rocks.  At least they were black ants that don't bite, but then Konrad said that the rocks smelled bad.  I immediately thought that someone else had liked the holes too, but because they looked like toilets.  I hastily got the boys out of the holes and checked them out thoroughly, but they seemed clean.  I looked at the holes and thankfully the holes did not contain any ...well you know what.

Dominik wanted to get in the toilet...I mean hole. 

Our second and third boys' hikes did not include Dominik (napping), which was good.  We checked out two very large boulder outcroppings around our campground including the "Eye of the Cyclops".  I was very impressed with Lukas' climbing skills and his level of confidence.  The climbs were beyond Konrad's abilities, so I coached and spotted him throughout the climbs.  All in all the I was very pleased with what my boys accomplished.

Dominik "Doing Time"

The boys checking out a Juniper bush

Can you see us?

Here we are!

On top of the "Eye of the Cyclops" (we are really high up)

In the "Eye of The Cyclops"