The Editor’s Note: Reflections on 2020

A camping getaway to Joshua Tree National Park offered some relief from the insanity we’re suffering through right now. (CHRIS COCOLES)

THEEDITOR’SNOTE

hen my good friend Norv suggested we take an early

WNovember camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I wasn’t sure if that was the best choice. I knew there wouldn’t be water for me to find a spot and cast a fishing line, but the idea of social distancing at a campground amid one of the most spiritual places in the state sold me.

As it turned out, it was a great choice to stop and reflect about the final days of 2020. Nothing has come easy for any of us, even a peaceful transfer of presidential power it seems. Mercifully the year is almost over, but the four-plus days we spent in the Southern California high desert offered an escape from the tough times we’re all enduring. The weather was perfect – sunny days, chilly but tolerable nights – and a nightly campfire and spirits kept us warm, plus our daytime exploring around Joshua Tree NP was enlightening. The park is truly a hiker’s and photographer’s dream destination.

The Black Rock Campground was pretty much full – November is Joshua Tree’s high season with more reasonable daytime temperatures – but everyone was spread out nicely, enjoying a little peace away from the chaos back home (Norv and I had internet access and checked the early returns of a still contentious despite decided election on the night of Nov. 3). In the midday heat I was able to find a shady deck chair adjacent to the campground’s nature center, where I read a few chapters of a book and chatted about fishing and dinner options in town with a local ranger – while we both wore masks, of course.

But I felt most at peace during an easy hike to the Wall Street Mill, which was a gold ore mining operation that dates back to the Great Depression. The walk took me through a valley of wildflowers, adorable dusky chipmunks – we didn’t see any coyotes but their howls serenaded us at night in camp – and the national park’s famed namesake Mojave River trees. At the end of the trail I found the remnants of the mill and a rusted-out old pickup truck from the late 1920s.

It was a bit warm when I found a shady spot to drink some water and take in the scene by myself. I kept thinking about the simplicity of the moment in a rather complicated time we’re living through. -Chris Cocoles