We turned north from US10, leaving the dusty tawdriness, the roaring trucks, the broken glas that littered the verges and the dusty, tired roadside communities like Desert Centre, and drove into Joshua Tree National Park.

In the early evening, it was as if we were landing on some science-fiction alien planet: level sands dotted with strange vegetation, from which rose rugged rock-strewn hills (Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran).

But the oddest phenomenon were the huge heaps of yellow-grey sandstone boulders, looking much like immense dinosaur droppings, that lay scattered about .

After poking our noses into several full campgrounds, we finally found a space at Jumbo Rocks, and settled down for three nights. We weren't able to grab a site nestling amongst the rocks, but we were nevertheless sheltered from the ever-present wind by a cluster of bushes.

We really enjoyed this park. It is excellent value (the park fee is $5 for a week, and most of the campgrounds are free), with many km of things to see, both from the roads and trails. Erica found the off-tarmac cycling too much like riding on a washboard, however.

There is no water in the desert, so either go well prepared or be forced to drive a long way to the towns on the edges of the park. The loos are also primitive earth closets, and are probably very smelly in the summer! In fact I wouldn't want to camp there in a tent in any higher temperatures than those in April. The nights were very cold...this desert gets snow in the winter, so you'll need a good sleeping bag.

  LENORE'S TRAVEL DIARY

Desert vegetation

Joshua Tree desert