Mojave National Preserve
Although our group had seen quite a bit of desert during our drive Southwest, the utter dryness and stillness never seemed to cease awing us. It was later in the afternoon when we pulled into Mojave National Preserve. The four of us decided that we would either get there early and do a hike around breakfast time, or arrive later and do the hike before sunset so that we wouldn’t get scorched under the strong, midday sun. As the majority of us weren’t morning people, and we had also stayed up late the night before, driving and chatting, we decided on the latter. Angela was at the wheel, and brought us to a stop outside the Rings Loop trailhead, a 1.5-mile loop trail that would take us through Banshee Canyon. We all grabbed our day packs, stocked with water, snacks, and our picnic dinner that we would have later on in the hike, and began our trek.
The sky was a bold blue color, which contrasted well with the sandstone-colored walls of the canyon and dull or light-green-colored shrubbery around. A gentle wind blew through the canyon, which was very welcome to us hikers. It also made a crying-like noise as it passed through the many holes in the canyon walls, which was both cool and slightly eerie. There were so many holes in the canyon walls, in fact, that it reminded the group of Swiss cheese! As we had learned from a passing hiker, the holes were formed by the cooling and hardening of lava, as well as the dissipation of gases, after several volcanic eruptions that happened far back in history. All four of us had great fun climbing up into a few of the bigger, more accessible holes, and squeezing ourselves into them for awesome pictures. It was my favorite desert experience so far!
Finally, after a strenuous scramble over boulders and through narrow gaps in the canyon, our group reached the picnic area. It was agreed by all of us that food always tasted better outside, and each of us was very thankful to Tyler and Olivia for preparing such a scrumptious spread of sandwiches, dips, fruits and vegetables, and cool, hand-squeezed lemonade. Gazing up into the blue sky above and the cacti-laden desert below, we couldn’t help thinking how experience-rich our trip had been so far—and it wasn’t over yet!
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