Joshua Tree National Park, Part 1

I've been bugging hubby to take me over to Joshua Tree National Park to get my senior pass and today he FINALLY got up out of his chair and off we went.  It was a cloudy, dready day, not really a good day for photos, unfortunately, but we went anyway.  I did adjust my camera settings to take into consideration the gray sky and most of the photos came out pretty good in spite of the fact that we didn't even get to Cottonwood Springs until about 10:30 a.m.  We stopped at the ranger station there at Cottonwood Springs and I purchased my Senior Pass for $10.00, signed it, and off we went through the park.  Our son had asked us to check out the campgrounds, so we drove through every one of them except Black Mesa and Indian Cove.  He has a tent and we've been talking about doing a family weekend at Joshua Tree.  But, with a 5 year old, (our grandson), we wanted to check out the campgrounds and see what facilities they have.  The only two campgrounds with water toilets are at Cottonwood and Black Mesa (which we didn't see today, but we've seen it before...)  We didn't have him with us today, but we do need to consider his needs...

I also wanted to see how many campers were boon docking before the park entrance.  There were a few trailers, but not that many, considering that it was a holiday weekend.  The campgrounds, however, were ALL full...every single one of them.

We started with Cottonwood Springs.  Unfortunately the road down to the parking lot was closed, for some reason.  We weren't impressed with the campground, however...NO SHADE at all.  And, the spaces were too close together.  Not great for a 5 year old.  It has 62  sites and 3 group sites.  The fee here is $15.00 a night and yes, it does have flush toilets.

So, on we went...