Shelter choice for SoCal desert in winter?
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My wife and I did three nights on a loop in Death Valley NP back at the end of January 2020, right before everything went sideways. It was the Cottonwood Canyon/Marble Canyon loop. It was quite windy for us on our 2nd night, and MAN that blowing sand really does a number of small #3 zippers. We used a TarpTent Stratospire 2 silnylon with the partial solid inner. I’m glad we had the partial solid one and not the 100% bugnet inner.
Is Joshua Tree similar? I have no experience there. Just my $.02 about blowing desert sand and wind.
Each desert area is different in so many ways, and each desert has its own diverse areas too. Higher deserts tend to have more plant life and less blowing sand — but some high desert areas can be very sand intense in storms.
Death Valley is obviously at low altitude. Along with sparser plant life, there are huge dry lakes and bajadas (alluvial slopes extending from the base of mountainous areas into a basin formed by individual alluvial fans). So sand will be a problem during windy times.
There is a small hill (Garnet Hill) less than 5 miles from my house, and blowing sand can become incredible. I used to go there to test shelters to see if they can handle 70+ mph gusts, which only my TrailStar has been able to do (below is the morning after) . . .
In this area you can find granite rocks called ventifacts that have large groves in them from the sand cutting into the rocks over the ages . . .
Between our house and Garnet Hill is the Whitewater River, which most of the time is just a sandy wash. In the spring especially, wind storms can create huge clouds of dust and sand, which doesn’t impact our house much sand-wise, but creates havoc with our patio furniture and palm tree fronds. The picture below was taken about 1 mile north of our house, and the two main roads going north from our house to I-10 were closed due to no visibility (the San Bernardino Mounts, which rise 11K feet above our desert floor, are barely visible in the background) . . .
There are a lot of windmills in the area, which makes sense, but they don’t work (they have brakes to stop them) if it is too windy . . .
Last year we were camping for a couple weeks in the Mojave Desert at around 4,400 ft. One night we had a hellacious windstorm. My telescope and mount were outside and all of it weighs right at 100 lb. The tripod was at its lowest setting. During the night the wind knocked it over (fortunately no major damage to any components). We also had a polyester patio mat in front of the camper (7′ X 16′) that was staked down to the ground. There was almost no sand on it in the morning. But there is a lot of plant life in the area . . .
In Joshua Tree NP blowing sand has rarely been a problem for me in windstorms, and I have spent well over 1,000 nights camping and backpacking there over the past 47 years. But there are a couple exceptions. One is in the Pinto Basin, which has a really cool sand dune just below Pinto Mountain, so sand does blow there. Also this basin extends all the way to the Coxcomb Mountains, north of the Eagle Mountains, an area that can get really sandy in the wind. Few people ever backpack this second area, which is why I am familiar with it ;-} so I wouldn’t worry much about sand, but one does need to be prepared if the weather forecast calls for wind alerts.
Tall mountains to the west block a lot of wind. It comes in through the pass along I-10 going west to east and channels through the hills. . If you look at the map, you can see where they put the windmills. You can also see where the sand is. Forecasts are fairly accurate, though sometimes when rain is predicted, you get wind. Sometimes you get Hillary.
Heres Mission Creek. You get 2 deserts converging into the mountains. Most of the path has water. You can actually make it up to San Gorgonio from there.
If you go to 3:13 in the video. Where the sign is. Go up that little finger where the hill comes down. Get on top of the hill and it’s a walk in the park. It soon intersects the PCT which you can follow back down to the creek. From there , there’s a a dirt road, that was cut illegally. I think it ends up in Morongo Valley. Or the PCT follows Mission for a ways and heads up to Big Bear. Or don’t take the finger and head over to Whitewater river. Take a right to go past hell-for-sure falls and there’s more falls at north fork. Camp at Middlefork. Stay on the right bank of northfork and you can get to the falls.
When I was young I hiked from my house to Mission Creek Canyon up to San Gorgonio Mountain. There is now a preserve at the bottom of the canyon run by the Wildlands Conservancy at the mouth of the canyon. After tropical storm Hilary it was closed for a while due to flash flooding.
Below is a map of the area. I put a circle in the bottom right to indicate where Mission Creek crosses Indian Canyon Drive, that was washed out during the storm. The flooding didn’t damage Hwy 62 since there is a bridge over the creek. San Gorgonio Mountain is in the upper left.
Here’s a short video of the flash flood damage to Indian Canyon Dr and Mission Creek . . .
Here’s a recent one from the preserve. At 6:36 in the video, the narrator points at the PCT. Mission creek actually goes to the right, where there was private property. So you cross mission, go down the wash, then you have a nice climb over the hill on the right side of his hand to get back down. It’s better to take the ridge. You get a nice breeze up there.That picture of Middlefork, we had came down from Forest Falls into the preserve. Several exploratory trips beforehand. That’s how I spent my 50th birthday. Getting over the hill.
I’ve seen bear near hell-for-sure canyon. We also found a collared bighorn carcass where a mountain lion had drug it under the brush. Took it down to Institute. Counted about 20 horny toads once. No snakes that I remember.
I never used to see anybody out there, except when they brought kids out. A not so busy alternative to JT.
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