Exploring the Backcountry Roads of Joshua Tree and Mojave Desert Solo in my Subaru // Road Trip Vlog

Hi, I'm Vy and I'm going to take you along with me on a four-day road trip exploring off-the-beaten-path areas of Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. I recently got a new Subaru Outback Wilderness and I'm excited to explore its abilities by driving down some of the backcountry roads. Well, hello from Joshua Tree National Park. I took a backcountry road. This is my first time driving a backcountry road in Joshua Tree National Park. I actually didn't even know there was backcountry roads in Joshua Tree. I just parked my car a little ways back and I am now hiking to Eureka Peak. It is a beautiful day and perfect weather and I have this trail all to myself, just the way I like it. I made it to Eureka Peak. I love the way the clouds kind of silhouette the mountains back there. Oh, what a gorgeous sunrise. So I woke up before the sunrise and I headed into the park and now I'm just here on the side of the road to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful sunrise and I'm excited to explore some of the other backcountry roads here in Joshua Tree and getting to see some of the new places that I haven't seen yet. I've been to this park so many times so it's nice to explore new areas of a place that I feel really familiar with. So I'm excited for today. Great start to the morning. So I'm finishing up a hike here on the Barker Dam Loop Trail and then I'm gonna hit the Queen Valley Road which is a backcountry road in Joshua Tree and find a couple hikes off of that road and then do the Geology Tour Road as well. Maybe Purdue Canyon Road as well. We'll see. And it's been a lovely morning so far. I'm very excited. And I'm off on another hike this morning. This is about 1.1 miles I believe and it's the Old Queen Valley Historic Road. I just parked back there and we're gonna see where this trail takes me. Well that was interesting. The road kind of just ends at the base of this mountain back here and the trail kind of dissipates too. It turns into less and less of a trail until it's like maybe I should turn around. But I'm looking up into this mountain and I don't know if you can see from here. I think I took a better video on my phone but it looks like somebody placed like a rock wall up there or some kind of dam. So part of me wants to scramble up there and see what that is. But I also did not bring any water with me so I don't want to go too far on the trail and risk getting lost. The next book I'm going to read is about somebody who got lost in Joshua Tree National Park. Can't remember the name of the book off the top of my head but after I finish my current book that's what I'll be reading. And because of that I'm a little more wary about going into the back country of Joshua Tree unprepared. So I don't have the 10 essentials on me right now. Water is probably the most important thing. So I'm not going to go more than like a mile from my car and maybe I'll explore that another day or see if I can find any information about it online. And I have a lot more to explore so that's what I'm gonna do. It's pretty windy so I don't know if you can hear me but I'm trying to use this mic to see if it helps. Hope it helps. But anyway I am parked along the side of the road here on Geology Tour Road and I just completed the loop and it was exhilarating testing out my car on that kind of road between the deep sand and all of the rocks on the road. I was nervous I was gonna pop a tire and thankfully I didn't but I mean knock on wood because I'm still not off of the road yet but I am very impressed with my car and how it's been handling these backcountry roads so far and I'm excited to see what's to come now that I know a little bit more about her capabilities. And this area said it was a trail on all trails but it looks like it's more of a kind of scramble and maybe somebody marked their path that they took to get to the top of this hill back there. But I just found a little pile of boulders to climb on top of and take a look at my surroundings. I can see the road back there, my car back there, and enjoying the day. It is just about lunchtime so I think I am going to maybe drive to my next spot. I kind of am just exploring what I find along these roads and you know taking a drive enjoying the ride so we'll see maybe whatever the next destination holds and I'll have some lunch there. So I turned on to Queen Valley Road and I'm just kind of wandering around. It does split on a few different roads and the way the maps were trying to have me go was down a one way the wrong direction so definitely be careful when you're using Google Maps. It has taken me a few sketchy paths this trip. And now I'm on the Desert Queen Mine Trail. I just had my lunch in the parking lot trailhead and I'm exploring the mine area. I just saw a cool stone house back there a little bit and now I guess I made it to the mine so I've got some exploring to do. It looks like there's some down there and I'm noticing like how big this mining area really is so let's see what it's all getting hot. It's about 1 p.m now and I'm feeling the sun. I've been hydrating so I feel good and I have plenty of water still in the car if I need it. Good morning from Amboy Crater. I woke up around sunrise time at the Black Rock Campground in Joshua Tree this morning. It was pretty chilly and windy this morning so I ended up having breakfast in the town. I also had to fill up on gas so I did that and then I drove over here. It is only about 9 20 a.m and the parking lot is pretty empty as you can see so I guess I'll have trail books to myself. I just hit the pit toilet back there and I'm gonna change out of my pajamas and then hit this trail. It's warming up and there's not really any clouds in the sky right now but it is pretty breezy so I won't be feeling the sun as much but I'll definitely be getting the sun rays so I'll have to figure out a way to keep myself covered. I did not bring sunscreen but that's the plan and it's looking like a beautiful day. Well I just hiked around the rim of Amboy Crater and now I am hiking the rest of the way back to my car. Today I will be exploring Mojave National Preserve and I am going to be taking some of the dirt roads or backcountry roads that I've never taken before so keeping in the spirit of off the beaten path places. I have been to Mojave several times in the past just like I have with Joshua Tree and I actually have hiked this trail once before or maybe twice before now and I'm pretty excited. I'm gonna be checking out some more volcanic features out there which I love. It is feeling kind of hot though so I will be making sure I drink lots of water and I'm excited right back there at the Hole in the Wall campground and I'm on the Barber Peak loop trail that like goes out from the end of the campground loops around this giant mountain hill and to the visitor center at the end and then back to my campsite which is about five miles round trip, six if you want to do the extra little loop at the visitor center but it is beautiful here, very windy which is nice because you don't feel the heat as much although the sun is very strong and it was only about an hour-ish drive from Amboy Crater to get here so there's plenty of time left in the day and nobody I don't think else is on this trail just me right now. There's not that many people in the campground yet just a few RVs and this rock right here behind me is really cool. I wanted to stop and have that in the background just because I was admiring it with all of the I think they're from the wind just these little holes, caves, crevices. So unique and I love the desert wildlife, these cacti and yucca. I just realized that there is no wind over here. I guess this mountain blocks the wind on this side so I guess my campground is on the windy side of the mountain but that's okay. It definitely feels much warmer over here without the wind and it's really nice but I am hoping the wind will die down a little bit. It's always more pleasant to hang out outside your car or tent when it's good weather so and as I'm saying there's no wind over here the wind picks up so maybe it was just a calm in the wind for a bit but still gorgeous. Some of these clouds are looking a little questionable as well like I might get some rain or something so I'll keep an eye on those but I'm not on such a long trail that I'd be concerned about getting stuck or anything so yeah I'm about 3.85 miles in and even though it's called a peak trail it's funny because I don't think it takes you up to the peak it just takes you around in a loop so should have just been called the loop trail. Those clouds are getting darker and I'm only a mile away from the campground. With all of the wind I guess it makes sense that it might rain a little bit hopefully it's just a quick little storm and I'm hoping for another good day tomorrow. I don't mind a little bit of wind but we'll see. Mother Nature and the universe will always decide how things end up going so we'll see what happens. Everything that happens is meant to be and I'm just rolling along with it. I can only plan and prepare so much and Mother Nature will throw obstacles at me and all I could do is be prepared for them so I'm ready if it's gonna rain bring it on. This is so cool. Wow if you like cool rocks you would love this trail. I am very pleasantly surprised with what an awesome trail this is and I think I'm getting to the best part. Well I can definitely see why this is called hole in the wall. For one there's thousands of these little wind caves some of them big enough to crawl into others of them are small enough for like maybe some wildlife but in addition to all of the little wind holes and caves also going around on the barber peak loop it looked like you kept coming into a dead end and it's like oh where is the hole in this wall that I have to go through to make it to the other side and that was the rings trail section that takes you through like a little slot canyon over there so that was pretty cool. Now I am taking the little side trail here back to the campground that connects the parking lot for the rings loop trail and the visitor center and then the campground nearby. Also good thing to note is that there is running water out here I don't know if it's running all year round but there was some at the trailhead and they are scattered around the campground as well so that is great to know because the closest gas station is like 100 miles away so you want to make sure you have everything you need when you come out here especially if you're staying more than one day. Good morning from Mojave Desert it was a super windy night last night as you can tell it is still pretty windy this morning got pretty chilly last night because of all this wind and I left my windows cracked which was really nice I love having that fresh air and a little bit of a breeze but it was hard to get up this morning with all of the cold wind whipping around I made my coffee in the trunk to block some of the wind it's nice to have a nice fresh hot cup of coffee in the morning and today I will be exploring Mojave Trails the Mojave National Preserve I'm going to be checking out the lava tubes today and Kelso Dunes which I've done many times I love that area so much. We're going to drive on some of the backcountry roads some of the dirt roads and I'm excited to see where they take me today I remember the first time I came to Mojave I tried to go to the lava tubes trail in my sedan and I got really scared driving down that dirt road by myself so I turned around and gave up on that plan and I went to Kelso Dunes instead which is a dirt road but it's a two-wheel drive dirt road so that one's a very easy drive to go down in any car pretty much any car and I think I'm going to pack up soon and head over it's about an hour away to the lava tubes I am hoping the sun comes out a little bit more so it warms up because I am cold I thought it was going to be much hotter on this trip usually in late April it starts heating up in the desert but I guess we're having a bit of a cold spell right now which is fine by me I just maybe would have packed a little bit differently if I thought it was going to be this cold but that's okay I might hit the loops or ring trail one more time this morning because that was just so cool so I would love to do that again maybe do a nice little one mile warm-up this morning and then head out so that's the plan well I'm at the trailhead for the rings loop trail and I'm gonna start my morning with the slot canyon rings loop I did this at the end of the day yesterday and it was so cool so I definitely wanted to come back and do it one more time I might do the whole one mile loop around to the visitor center seeing how I feel how cold I am the wind is kind of slowing down I think in that canyon it should be calm for sure and I'm excited to start the day I've been doing lots of hiking on this trip which makes me feel really good I love the way my body feels when I spend the whole day adventuring hiking moving my body and then getting into my sleeping bag at night you fall asleep real easy when you're tired it feels good to me and my body and makes me happy now that I've gone up and down those rings a couple of times it's much less scary now that I'm familiar with what comes next what a fun trail and then yesterday I saw this little side quest over here that I want to check out I see a little canyon back there and it looks like there's a rope and some foots like footholds I wonder what that's about let's take a look when I see awesome rocks like this it makes me wish I was a climber and knew how to do some rock climbing because I just want to scramble up these walls oh cool I don't know if I want to try that honestly I think I could make it up this but I don't think I could make it back down without scraping my knees or my hands so I'm gonna play it safe and only scramble it a little bit that's a song from the beautiful chorus that I have stuck in my head right now singing it chanting it as a mantra for this beautiful morning all right and now we're off to the lap tubes all righty just parked back there and I wasn't sure if this last little bit here was drivable or not because there's definitely like an end to that road the loop right there um and on all trails the trail started from right there so I'm parked over there a logical parking spot it seemed and I'm starting my hike I think it's only a mile altogether and I brought a headlamp because if I'm correct this is a lava tube underground like a cave so it'll be dark so nice to have a headlamp and usually GPS doesn't work when you're in a cave or a tunnel or sometimes in a deep slot canyon so you've got to be mindful of your map before you head in because it might not be able to track your location so good thing to note and having light makes it easier to see so all right so I've been trying to follow google maps to get to the lava beds trail and I thought I was going the right way down this sandy dirt road at least that's what google maps seemed like it wanted me to do but the road started just kind of splitting off like crazy once you got into the sandy wash and it ended up bringing me to a dead end but it's a pretty cool campsite and I guess somebody either left this there or is planning on staying here tonight and left a whole bundle of firewood in the fire pit but this would make a really awesome campsite but I have more to do today so I'm not gonna stay here I might try to figure out the road or just head on to my next destination which is calso dunes it is almost one o'clock already so maybe that's what I'll do and then just have fun exploring the dunes running around in the sand and enjoying this bit of good weather that we have while we have it really cool to see where this car is able to take me and I'm also learning a lot about how to use the map or what not to do with the map I guess when it comes to driving off the regular paved roads so I don't know if google maps is the best option because it's taken me down some sketchy roads a couple times now and we'll see if anybody has any suggestions for better options for navigation on off roads rather than google maps let me know I just have my spots like pinned on google maps and it's available offline so that's what I've been using and also all trails when you download the map it kind of saves that area so you can also see where you are in reference to certain trails if you have them downloaded so between google maps and all trails that's kind of what I'm using right now but let me know what you guys use and if you have anything better especially for the off roads anyway cool campsite back here moving on well I made it to Kelso Dunes and I snagged the campsite that I was hoping to get all to myself it is like the first backcountry campsite as you're coming down towards the campground that's down there so it's kind of off to itself on the side of the road you get a little bit more privacy and not too far away but a little bit of a walk away is the trailhead and a toilet so if I need to you know go to the bathroom I can make the trek out there and hopefully the wind dies down enough so I can have a fire tonight that would be so lovely but we'll see with super high winds it's not safe to have fires because it blows the embers out even though there's not that much out here to burn anyway but still better to be safe so I'm having some lunch snack over here carrots and hummus and pretzels it's nice to have veggies yum yum yum all righty time to climb some sand dunes I am on the Kelso Dunes trail and the goal is to make it to the top of the biggest sand dune so here we go hiking through the sand is so much harder than hiking on regular ground because every step up is like a half a step back but I'm almost to the top I just have one last climb to go but the wind is blowing the sand over the top the wind is really strong on the other side of this dune and what I'm sitting on right now is so steep so I'm wondering if I'll slide down or I'll try to like run down with the sand I'm just taking a break because man that is exhausting but awesome to be up here cool view and I hiked just about two miles to get here so not bad the morning from the desert I woke up and the sun had already risen so that's how you know I had a night's sleep I usually wake up with the sunrise but here I am it is 6 45 in the morning the sun came up like just over the mountain not too long ago since I'm kind of like in the little valley over here first it has to come up over the mountain before it shines I've been using my cooler as a little like table nightstand over here so I have my notebook and my reading book up here when I'm not using it and ready to make some coffee oh yeah what a great way to wake up and a beautiful place to wake up and nobody's around me but I'm here by myself obviously I can be fully myself and talk at regular volume which is nice and I don't have to worry about disturbing anybody because it's just me over here got the spot all to myself no neighbors around just me and mother nature and whatever wildlife critters want to come and say hi you I just took my morning walk to the pit toilet and a little further than I remembered it being yesterday so power walking my way there but anyway I'm just taking this time to reflect on the trip overall and kind of the lessons I learned and the adventures I had and my goal for this trip was to try to explore some off the beaten path places I haven't been to before so getting away from some of like the main attractions and adventuring down some of these dirt roads backcountry roads and seeing what my car can do what my car can handle and kind of what I'm comfortable handling in my car so I got to see some really cool things very impressed with myself and my car's abilities on these dirt roads I definitely took a few wrong turns but that's all part of the adventure is making mistakes learning from them seeing something new and rolling with the punches that seems to be a ongoing theme in all of my videos is that mother nature has the ultimate word and decision making power and whatever she says goes so proud of myself proud of felicia my car for keeping me safe on this adventure it can be scary trying new things like this especially when you're alone but you don't need to wait around for other people to do the things you always wanted to do just find that confidence in yourself and do your research and be prepared and do it yourself I have learned so much about myself and California and nature in general by getting out here alone and doing it anyway not waiting for anybody else and just enjoying my own company go out there take yourself on an adventure let me know in the comments what you did where you went or what you're planning to do and I will be rooting you on so let's get outside all right well thanks for watching I love you all and happy trails