Sand Dunes, Turkey Flats, Joshua Tree National Park

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
1/2/2018	2.8 miles				17.1

Map: National Geographic Joshua Tree Map
Guide book: Hiking Joshua Tree National Park, a Falcon Guide
Directions: Hike #13 in guide book, Sand Dunes

This hike didn't sound too exciting in our guide book, but we decided to check it out. We parked at the sign for Turkey Flats. From what we read, someone bought the area to have a turkey farm (it didn't work out). We saw people stop here, get out of their cars, take a couple of photos, and leave. The view is interesting, but there are no marked trails here. The sign said you need cross country navigation skills and that you could do a hike up a mountain from here (I wasn't clear if that would require an overnight trip). We definitely didn't want to hike up the mountain (I wouldn't want to do that kind of navigation with just our National Geographic map). But, we could easily hike to a large sand dune and back. The book gave clear instructions on how to do the hike & navigate back to your car without a compass. I wanted to practice my skills though, so I did. We saw the large sand dune, and headed to the right side towards a green hill. I took a compass bearing although it wasn't really necessary, as our end point was always in sight. I figured I could use it to return to the car if necessary though.

We headed out across the basin. It was kind of exciting to be off trail. There weren't too many prickly things so it was easy to hike cross country. There were so many holes in the sand though! Small round holes, large round holes, rectangular slots. This place must be teeming with wildlife, which we unfortunately didn't see. We read that there are multiple lizards in the area, rattlesnakes, and many kinds of rodents. I was hoping we'd see a desert tortoise on our trip, but no such luck. We read later that there are actually owls that will use the holes that other animals dig. All of these animals hide in their holes during the heat of the day and come out at night when its cooler.We did our best to walk around all of the holes, because if you aren't careful, when you step down, the ground collapses under you.

We arrived at the dune and decided to turn left and walk across it. There goes my compass bearing idea for the return trip. Glen pointed out to me that from the height of the dune we could see the parking area, so we could just take a new bearing for the return trip. We saw thousands of prints on the dunes. They appear to be bird prints, though we weren't sure which kind of bird. This hike was very, very hot. There is no shade, so best to do it on a cooler day. After crossing to the other end of the dune, I took a bearing back to our parking lot. Our book also pointed out, that you could use the mountains in the distance and head to a specific point on the mountain to guide yourself back to the parking area. We didn't encounter any other hikers on this hike. I absolutely loved this hike. It was something really different.

Showing off trail routes to a mountain

And video...