We spent the holiday weekend backpacking in California’s high desert 🌵. It was hot, challenging, and absolutely magical ✨…. Recap in iPhone pics (we swapped our camera gear for extra water 🥵): 📸 2: Joshua Trees take decades before their distinctive branches form! Any guesses on how old this one is? 📸 3: We saw so much wildlife—Jack rabbits, lizards, and a desert tortoise crawled across the trail 👋. 📸 4 & 7: Days are hot but desert evenings are ✨…and a lightweight Kindle is the best in the backcountry! 📸 5: Most backpacking permits in #JoshuaTree are easy to come by - we booked day of on recreation.gov (search ‘Joshua Tree Backcountry’). We used the ‘California Riding and Hiking Trail’ as our home base, and made routes from there—even looped back to our car Day 2 to refill water (bring a MIN of 4 liters per person, per day!). Or cache water at different trailheads & refill along the way 👍. There is NO water avail inside Joshua Tree NP. 📸6: Climbing rocks beside our t...