A week in the Austrian lake region

Wolfgang see

This summer, I spent a spectacular week in the Austrian lake region called Salzkammergut, staying at many of its picturesque lakes and villages. It was such a picture perfect holiday – towering green mountains, clear skies, a glorious warm summer and sparkling lakes with warm waters to swim in. Just thinking about it makes me happy again. I landed in Salzburg, and then spent 3 days around the St Wolfgang lake and another 3 next to the Fuschl See. The whole week felt so surreal, I loved it. And as always, Austria remains one of my favourite countries to visit. (I realised this was my 11th visit to the country, so clearly it’s a favourite of mine 😉).


Salzburg

Having shifted from London to Amsterdam, I am slowly realising that getting direct flights to anywhere in the world was a luxury I had in London, and is not necessarily something I can take for granted anymore. While planning to join a friend in Austria on her wedding anniversary celebrations for 3 days, the only way I could take direct flights was to go on a one week holiday😊. And so I did, as it was in Austria – one of my all-time favourite countries.

It took a bit longer to get to Salzburg than I would have expected, given all the chaos currently going on in so many European airports, including my home one, Schiphol. So what could have been a 4-5 hour journey turned out to be a 9 hour one! I turned up 4 hours earlier at the airport when it ended up taking just 45 mins to get to the gate.

Anyways, it was nice to get back onto a plane, as it’s become so much rarer since the pandemic. The whole week I was in Austria was warm and sunny. And it started with when I was landing - the green fields everywhere, all the way to the snow covered mountains, sparkled in the sun just as I was landing. Everywhere it felt warmer and sunnier than where I had flown from, summer was here. It was 26 degrees and I soon got into the relaxed holiday mode.

The Salzburg airport was the anti-thesis of Schiphol, it took me just 3 mins to enter and leave the airport building! I decided to go local and took the local bus to get to my hotel. And it felt nice to slowly drive through Salzburg town, with all its colourfully painted buildings. It felt like a sleepy place which moves at its own pace. A place you can relax in while staring at the snow covered mountains far off. The bus passed by the river and through some of the stunning neighbourhoods next to it, and that is when I decided that would be where I would spend my one evening (and run) in town.

Walk along the Salzach

I was staying at a small hotel near the city centre which was a nice clean hotel. After checking into my hotel, (and getting over the laziness of the 9 hours to get there), I left soon to explore the city, the way the locals do. My hotel was about 10 mins walk to the river, and I decided to just walk towards it. I walked through the old market lanes of Salzburg where I had spent some time 15 years ago. They all seemed to not have changed a bit.

Walk in the countryside

And then I came to the Salzach river where I had one of the most magical evenings ever. I walked for a couple of hours just next to the river, on either side. Initially the walk was still in town, but very quickly I was in the suburbs, and it was enchanting. Walking through forests, huge wooden houses and so on, with the snow covered mountains far off. There were so many birds on the trees, runners and bikers on the roads, and restaurants all along the river. It was fun to just walk along, stop and sit in the grass next to the river, dip my feet in the water, and then start again. Lots of people that day were doing the same. (I was surprised to see the number of people biking here. Also the bikers here were much nicer and polite than the ones in Amsterdam).

Salzburg at night

There were multiple bridges on the river, and I just crossed across on the one which was full of people just sitting and chilling with their friends in the sun. It was really magical. I had dinner at one of the restaurants lining the river, the Gasthof Ueberfuhr while enjoying a warm sunset. 

Castles of Salzburg

I walked back after, and made a short stop at the city centre where were located all the churches, many castles and the shopping streets I had visited last time. This side of the river was definitely grander than the side I was living on. I also realised how much I had changed since then, just choosing to walk along the river rather than visit all the places listed in the must visit websites for Salzburg😊. I really enjoyed this evening in Salzburg, it had felt like I was walking and dancing on air.

Morning run

The next morning, I went for a run along the river, in a direction opposite to the previous evening, apparently north this time. The run turned out to be tough as it was already extremely warm even at 8 in the morning (20 degrees with full on sun). But the scenes were so charming, it was worth being out in the sun. I ran while gazing at all the colourful houses around as well as the majestic castles on top of the mountains. I also stopped to dip my feet in the water, along a beach like part of the river. The water felt icy cold, and totally welcome on such a warm morning. And just like that, it was time to say goodbye to Salzburg.


St Wolfgang am See

The wedding anniversary celebrations I was joining were in the village of St Wolfgang am See, which is on the banks of one of the lakes in the area, the St Wolfgang. I hadn’t been able to figure out a way of getting there easily, so was just going to take a taxi. But my hotel receptionist suggested that I take the local bus as it would be cheaper. I wasn’t able to find the route online but she found it for me (A good example of where you can sometimes still find better options by asking people rather than depending completely on information available online).

Bus stop at Strobl

So I took the local bus from outside my hotel, first to the village of Strobl (which could have been one of the prettiest bus stations ever 😊). And then I took a short connecting bus to St Wolfgang. And as it turned out, the buses ran free on Fridays. So I got this spectacular and lazy ride along the lakes all for free! The drive was right out of a Yash Chopra movie – green lush hills and grasslands along large blue lakes, with fresh air and lot of sunshine all around. It was such a delightful ride.

St Wolfgang see

Very soon, I was in St Wolfgang and checked in to my hotel, the Scalaria. It had a great location right on the lake, with panoramic views all around. And there were birds chirping outside my window the whole time. It was like being in a different world altogether. The view of the lake from the window extended till everywhere and was quite surreal. Like out of a painting, except some yellowish stuff floating along the banks. Which I later figured out was the Sahara sand which had blown over across the continent in a storm a few weeks before.

The first day, I went out for a walk in the village, and it was a typical Austrian village, with colourful houses all along. There were a lot of nice shopping streets. And the area around the lake was really relaxing. I just sat there for a bit, enjoying the serenity around. The church bells from the local church rang soon, adding even more to the serene ambience around. There were loads of people swimming in the lake, and that inspired me to go swimming every day for the rest of my stay in Austria. As the water was so warm, and the outside even hotter.

The next three days, we had various events related to the anniversary in different parts of the Salzkammergut area. The first evening, we drove to the Wirtskultur restaurant in the town of Mondsee for dinner. It was located right on the Mondsee lake. The food there was amazing. And it was so hot, we got outside the restaurant to cool down for a bit. That’s how I got to see the local church, the only bit of local sightseeing we did there. It was all lighted up at night and looked majestic. And just like that, after a really hot day, it started pouring in the middle of our dinner! So we all had to run in, and then run back to our hotel in pouring rain. As they say, you can never be sure of the weather in the mountains.

During the boat ride

The next day, in the morning we did a yacht ride in the lake and the weather which started out cold and rainy turned warm and sunny suddenly. We spent 2 hours on the boat, just chatting and enjoying the stunning environs around. We passed by huge peaks, charming villages and so many people on the water enjoying water sports. It was so breath-taking, that after some time we just stopped taking pictures. Every moment, every turn was mesmerising.

Wolfgang church

In between the yacht ride and the evening event, I again went into town. I finally got to go to the Wolfgang church which has a lot of historic significance. It has two altarpieces which is apparently quite rare. And its outside looked impressive too with some grand views of the lakes around. I also realised that lot of people don’t take credit cards in Austria even till now, which felt quite a surprise after being in NL for so long. After the church visit, I went for a swim in the lake and it felt amazing, just like the swims of the last year in Switzerland. It felt refreshing, even though the water was freezing and I loved it.

In the evening, we had a function in the Scalaria itself, including a laser show to celebrate the event. It was fun. I also wore a saree, which felt like being in a Yash Chopra movie, saree and the Alps😊 .

The last event of the anniversary was a lunch at my friend’s place which is on the banks of the Mondsee lake. They live in a huge house overlooking the lake, it looked amazing in the sun. This is the life – to live in a village with such gorgeous nature around. It felt heavenly to visit her and made me resolve again to buy a holiday home in Austria😊.

Once the anniversary celebrations finished, I drove to my abode for the next 4 days, the small charming little hotel of Seewinkel in the village of Fuschl am See (which surprisingly is the headquarters of Red Bull). Again through the green mountains and lakes of the Alps.


Seewinkel hotel

I spent the next 4 days of the holiday in the lakeside village of Fuschl am See. And it was like being in paradise. I did a different activity every day, depending on whether the weather was sunny or rainy. And all of them were fabulous. I could have lived in this small village and its environs for a few more days too and not get bored. There were just so many ways to enjoy the nature around, it was perfect.

View from the hotel

The first afternoon when I reached the village, I was just blown away by the simplicity of the views outside the hotel. It was a small family run chalet right on the lake with lot of sun beds kept outside. It had a beach like area with sand on the lake and a walkway going into the water. And total calmness around. Oh my god, what a sight it was.

Seewinkel hotel

One of the highlights of my stay in Fuschl am See was definitely the hotel, so small and yet so contained and relaxing to stay in. I had a great time there, both inside and the areas around. It had many seating areas for you to relax – outside on the beach, on the ground floor next to the spa, the restaurant on the first floor with glass windows to enjoy the lake views and so on. It also had sofas and chairs on each floor to just sit and chill. And was always cosy and warm even when it was cold outside.

It had a nice restaurant offering lunch and dinner, with a tasty menu. I had dinner there one day and enjoyed it. They had many water sports equipment available for their guests – paddle boats, surf boats, canoes, kayaks, SUPs etc. They also offered tours for mountain biking or hiking in the area. The highpoint for me though was the small little spa in the hotel with sauna and steam bath, it was cute and I went there every day after the day outside in the cold and rain.

Reflections along the Fuschl see

Right in front of the hotel was the huge lake, where you could just walk in and swim. And right outside my window, there used to be llamas and horses and ponies grazing all day. How much more idyllic can a holiday get? I will always recommend this hotel to everyone who goes there, totally worth it. 


Fuschl am See

The first afternoon in Fuschl, I just sat outside the hotel in the sun for a while. And then went for a swim (which I ended up doing 4 of the next 5 days too😊). The water was actually so warm, it felt amazing. I swam to the other side of the lake to see the village centre. There were lot of people doing different water sports in the lake, including sailing and boating. And loads of people sitting around it fishing all day long too.

Dinner at Seehotel Schlick

In the evening, I walked along the lake to the Seehotel Schlick restaurant which was one of the 5-6 open air restaurants lining the lake. It had a beautiful view of the lake and the sunset. And the best part of the dinner was a boat with some locals just floating on the lake. And they were playing local folk music late into the evening. The whole time. It turned out to be such a captivating background to the dinner. I just fell in love with the village already. Apparently, the local group does this type of jamming every Sunday whenever it isn’t raining. What an idyllic life they have.

Sielbach village on the hike up

The next day, I went for a short hike nearby, up the Ellmaustein peak. I left a bit later in the day around 1 pm as it was a rainy day and I wanted to avoid the rain. I used the local Austrian bergfex hiking app during the day. I first walked to the Sielbach village and then took a turn up towards the peak. All along, there were so many wildflowers in yellow and white, with full fields in these colours. The path up was full of pine trees.

View from the top

I took more than 2 hours to go up and from there, got such a breath taking view of the lake. There was a huge wooden cross on the top and I sat under it for two hours, enjoying the sun and reading my book. I did not want to leave the spot, but good I did when I did. The path back was extremely steep, and coming back was quite tough, taking me more than an hour. Also, it started raining by the time I reached Fuschl. So to avoid the rain, I just stopped at the first restaurant I saw, Jacob’s and had an early dinner while sitting on the jhoola there. And the rest of the day was just spent resting at the hotel, enjoying the views outside as it rained all night.

Around the river

The next day, most of the day was raining but there were a few hours in between when it was quiet. So I went for a flat hike around the lake during this break. The path circled the lake, mostly close to it, but through very different terrains – small villages, hotels, golf courses, picnic areas, forests, restaurants, farms and so on. The water of the lake had a green emerald shade, and looked different at every turn. Within the 13 kms walk, there were so many differences in flora and fauna, it was fun. Each place felt more idyllic than the one before.

Hiking path

I started with walking past the Red Bull headquarters which were a cluster of modern buildings in the middle of nowhere. It did look cute though, sitting in this idyllic Austrian lake side village. Their HQ also had a few training buildings next to it – what fun it would be to come for corporate trainings to such an idyllic location. We passed through some wildflowers pastures in white and yellow, some gorgeous holiday homes with boats and boat ramps going into the water, the many many beaches and benches along the lake, the spruce and pine forests and so on. There were typical farm smells everywhere and a lot of cow dung smell at times too.

Beach along the lake

All the time, it kept raining in spurts, but it was fine as the trees protected me for a while. And when the rain got too much, I stopped for lunch at the SchlossFischlerei. They were selling raw, just freshly smoked fish there, and it was really tough to eat. I didn’t, choosing to eat something easier. But it was quite a sight to see people have the whole fish just like that. And as usual, I made it back to the hotel just in time before the rains. Enjoying the rest of the evening sitting by the cosy places in the hotel, enjoying the views of the lake outside.

 

The next day was mostly rainy and foggy. And whenever there was a break, I would sneak out to do something. In the afternoon, I went boating in the lake, and it was so relaxing, just floating along with such picturesque views. It got sunny then too, and was nice to see all the villages from down below in the lake. Such places always give a new perspective.

Fuschl am see at night

That evening, I walked to a restaurant in a golf course nearby, in the neighbouring village but it was already closed by then. So I ended up having dinner at the Eden burger, again by the lake. I tried sitting outside as it was gorgeous. The restaurant got the last rays of the sun when it set at the other end of the lake. But soon it got too cold to sit outside, so I just sat inside and had a nice cosy dinner.

On my last day I again went for a swim and kayaking in the water. And then I realised there were waves in the water! Huge ones. Anyways I came back safely and then it was time to leave. And I found it tough to leave the lake, seriously. I had loved going swimming in its warm waters every day. Surprisingly, it was warm even in the morning and even when the temperature outside was 14 degrees! Don’t know how, it felt swimmable all the time.


Leaving Austria

And just like that, it was time to leave the Austrian lake district. I was still going local, so took the bus to Salzburg. And as I reached Salzburg, it felt like I was back in a city after a long stay in the countryside. Even though Salzburg was small, it still felt like being back in a different world, a world I did not want to come back to.

I had reached much before time as I had kept a lot of buffer for buses being late but they were totally on time. So I stopped at Mirabell gardens in Salzburg for a bit, just to look around and also slept on the park bench, for a bit – the last of the sun I was going to get for a long while. And very quickly, I was back at the airport. Also interestingly, we could see one of the city castles from the airport itself, even though it was 2 miles away. And then soon it was time to say good bye to even the mountains. To come back to rainy and foggy Amsterdam.

This was a great holiday, as usual. And I can see myself going back again. Maybe to a different part of the lake district, like the Attersee, St. Gilgen or Gmunden am Traunsee. This area has a lot to offer, to everyone, always.

A week in Joshua Tree National Park

During the winter of January 22, after a week in San Diego, we then spent a week hiking and exploring the sunny Joshua Tree national park. It was quite a nice week overall and as it was sunny, that amplified the experience even more.

Our itinerary for the week was as follows:
Day 1,2: Drive to Joshua Tree town and explore near our airbnb
Day 3: Hiking in Joshua Tree national park: Hidden Valley, Cap Road and sunset at Keys View
Day 4: Hiking in JT park: Forty Nine Palms Oasis trail, Contact Mine trail
Day 5: Visit Pioneertown, hiking in JT park: Lost Horse Mine trail
Day 6: Hiking in JT park: Ryan mountain, Skull Rock, Discovery, Face Rock, Split Rock trails; sunset at Keys View and star gazing at night
Day 7: Back to base, the Bay area


Drive to Joshua Tree town

We had a full day long drive from San Diego to Joshua Tree town through some really gorgeous landscapes. The whole drive was sunny and clear, so we could see far and clear. And slowly, we also started to get the feeling that we are slowly moving towards outback country, the old west cowboy land.

Mountains during the drive

The first half of the drive was mountainous and green. We drove through valleys surrounded by rolling green hills everywhere. The whole area was continuously inhabited, with developments everywhere. Some were small village like settlements and some larger, with most of them made up of lavish and huge houses along the sides of the hills as well as on the top. Some of them were quite pretty too, with orange roofs and white walls – it almost reminded me of Europe. There were also lots of farms on the way, some bigger and some smaller, with some animals here and there. Soon, we could see faraway mountains with snow covered peaks. And they stayed with us the whole way. This side of the mountains was still green country, and the other side turned brown, sandy and desert.

Wilson Creek Vineyard

Our airbnb was available much later in the day, so we decided to spend some more time on the way. We first stopped at Temecula wine country as we saw its boards on the way. So we just drove around, and decided to stop at a random winery for lunch. The area was full of many different vineyards all around, and we drove into the Wilson Creek vineyard. It was a huge place with lot of outside seating and views of snow covered mountains far off. It was also very touristy and full of people, clearly a popular spot. We walked a bit in the vineyards - the grape wines were all dried up at that time - had a quick lunch and then were off.

Our next stop was an outlet mall, in the middle of nowhere, at Cabazon. We were definitely not expecting a shopping place in the middle of our drive. As we did have a few things we needed to buy, we stopped there and were surprised by how crowded it was. Full, and since it was still corona time, we didn’t spend a lot of time there. It was a nice stop nevertheless, with views of snow covered mountains on the one side, and lot of premium outlets on the other.

Our drive after continued through many valleys, all with their own unique feel and landscape. Hemet valley was lined with snow mountains, panoramic views, lakes and gated communities. There were a few stunning settlements there and lot of cow farms. As soon as we crossed the snow covered mountains, the valleys become brown, sandy and desert like. The mountains were all bare and brown, still sparkling though as it was sunset time by the time we reached there.

When we reached the Joshua Park region, we passed through two towns, Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. Both were large spread out towns straight out of cowboy movies. They all had just one floor buildings situated quite far from each other. They felt more like villages, but had all the city amenities. And all around was just the brown desert. It felt like such a different world altogether. This was the first time I had been to a place like this, it felt like I had come to cowboy country! And so I was looking forward to what the next week would bring.


Joshua Tree town 

We stayed at JT town for a week. It was a spread out city, all yellow, with houses going up mountains on both sides. All were just one floor houses with loads of empty spaces everywhere. There were so many churches here too. The population of the city was just 8000 people, so surprising! The joshua tree and cactus plants were everywhere. There were so many different types of cacti around. Locals grew many types in their own gardens – some really impressive ones and some weird ones. This was the first time I had seen cactus being grown in gardens - it really felt like the wild wild west.

Sunset near our airbnb

We also saw some magnificent sunsets everyday, it looked like they were a regular daily occurrence in this part of the world. Maybe because of the clear skies, yellow brown ground and the vast expansive valleys. Or maybe something else. And the whole sky would become colourful at that time. 

On the one side would be the sun, all in yellow and orange shades. And the opposite side of the sky would have all shades of pink! The pinks disappear before, while the orange and yellow side stays brighter for longer. I had never figured out till now that the colours opposite the sunset sky have the pink and purple shades (guess because we live in cities where we can only see far off in one direction at a time, but in flat deserts, one can easily see both sides on the flat expanse).

I spent some time exploring the area around our Airbnb and it all felt like from a different world altogether. I went for a few runs in the neighbourhood, and I was surprised by the number of dogs barking at everyone. Plus the number of boards warning strangers off their private gardens. Apparently they can (and will) shoot at someone on their premises, so I was extremely careful while running in the hood to not take even one step off the road.


Joshua Tree National Park

Most of our time over the next week was spent in the Joshua Tree park itself. It’s a huge area named after its most famous resident, the Joshua tree. There are a few entrances to the park and you need to sometimes queue to get in, as there are not that many ways to get in there. Just outside the entrance we used every time, there are a few large gorgeous houses, especially a red one right next to the entrance gate. It’s really impressive, and feels like living life king-size in such a location.

The park is a huge flat expanse of bare desert land with some mountains at places, and some really stark landscapes and structures. The boulders and mountain formations everywhere are quite interesting too. The valleys are full of Joshua trees and different kinds of shrubs, while the mountains are more bare.

Sunset view behind the Joshua tree

The Joshua trees inhabit the valley till wherever the eye can see. Like a sea of trees. They have a thick bark, and the leaves look like Chewbacca from Star Wars. They are scary and fascinating at the same time. But definitely something you cannot ignore, given they have a city and a national park named after them. They tend to suck all the water from the ground, and so don’t allow any vegetation to grow near them. That’s why they all grow at a distance. Except of course if they have multiple stalks from the same root, and then there could be multiple barks next to each other at the same spot.

The jungles (or groups of Joshua trees) were different from each other depending on the part of the park. At some places, all the joshua trees had multiple barks. Someplace else they all had branches and were dense. And somewhere else, they were all younger, with just one bark. But they were always far away from each other.

Cholla cactus

The other common plant in the park was the cholla cactus – they are so gorgeous and shine in a golden hue during the evening sunsets. They look quite surreal in the evenings actually. There is one trail where you can apparently see a sea of these cactus shining in the night but we couldn’t get there as that was too far.

The park is huge and getting from one end to the other takes forever. So whenever we entered the park, we spent time exploring the trails in that particular section of the park itself. This website has a good list of hikes, and we picked a few from this for our week in the park. All the trails are very well maintained and have lot of markings, with small boards guiding you all the way. So it was very convenient to be there and explore what all it had to offer. 


Hidden Valley, Cap Road and sunset at Keys View

Valley trail

On our first day in the park, we did three short trails, the Hidden Valley, Cap Road and Keys trail. The Hidden Valley is a short walk through some huge boulders into almost a kind of oasis. This oasis has a completely different flora than the rest of the park and is surrounded by huge boulders and small hills on all sides. Some of the trekkers were also doing some rock climbing adventures there. 

Because this valley is secluded, it gets more rainfall than the other areas and hence has non-desert type of vegetation. In fact huge green trees like wild oaks. This valley is so well hidden, that it was apparently used by rogue farmers in the old times to keep stolen cattle, so that no one could find them, and they got enough greens to eat. 

Exotic cactus

The Cap Rock trail was a very short walk, and had many kinds of interesting desert plants along it, mostly shrubs. Some of them were bright coloured, with red bristles or orange flowers, while some were typical brown desert plants. I am not a person drawn to deserts naturally. Forests and greenery are more my thing. Still the beauty of some of the desert plants here was tough to ignore. And I soon started looking for these beautiful varieties, tracking them on my other trails.

Sunset from the Keys

The last trail of the day wasn’t really a trail. We drove to the end of one of the roads to see the sunset, at the Keys View. That location was magnificent. And surprisingly, the joshua trees here were denser than the other parts of the park. There was a view point from where you could see the sunset, as well as all the way till the Salton Lake on one side and the valley of Palm Springs on the other.

Sunset from the Keys

It was such a magnificient location that you could see valleys and high peaks all around you. And with the sunset, so many beautiful colours came into view – the bright yellow of the setting sun, as well as the pink on the opposite side. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me, standing on a boulder at Keys and looking all around, getting lost in the magic and grandeur of nature. Pinks on one side, yellows on the other. And a view till 100s of miles afar, of lakes and cities and mountains and peaks. It was absolutely stunning.

Also, even though the day had been warm and sunny all day, the temperature just dropped right after sunset – typical desert climate. So after enjoying the magical sunset, we had to run back to our cars to get back and out of the park soon enough.


Forty-nine Palms Oasis and Contact Mine trails

The Forty-nine Palms Oasis trail can only be accessed from outside the park, and is supposed to be a very hot weather trail. It is named so as it ends at 49 palms growing on a barren hill with a hidden water stream flowing right next to them – hence its known as the oasis trail.

49 palms from far

The trail was about 3 miles and we took about 1.5 hours to finish it. First we walked up the mountain ledge for a while, crossed onto the other side and then went down to get to the palms and the oasis. As soon as you first get over the mountain ledge, you can already spot the 49 palms from far off. This helps motivate you towards the end of the hike. 

Red barrel cactus

On this trail, we also noticed a lot of red barrel cactus dotting the mountainside. They were so red and some were really huge. And once you see them, you keep spotting them all the time. I found them quite interesting. At the end of the hike, you get to this group of huge green palm trees, with a stream of water flowing hidden in the bottom. It’s really a work of nature to find such a random group of trees peeping at you from behind the mountains.

49 palms oasis

Apparently if you are lucky, you can even spot local wildlife at the stream, when they come there to drink, but we didn’t see anything. We did see some of the tree barks had been burnt due to fires in the past. So there were lot of rules for hikers here – to not go down to the oasis, to not disturb the wildlife, and to not light fires. Also there were multiple boards in the area asking everyone to stay hydrated, as there had been a few deaths here due to the heat.

Anyways once we reached there, we had a good short break with some food and water. And we really enjoyed sitting under the cool shade of the trees after the long and sunny hike. Overall, it was a nice hike and we enjoyed it.

Contact Mine Trail

After this, we decided to go to the Contact Mine trail, entering from a different part of the park and realised that there were no Joshua trees at all at this side of the park! There were a lot more palm trees but no Joshua trees. As it was already late, we walked just a short part of the trail. As usual we saw some interesting shrubs, as well as a gorgeous sunset again. We could also see the sun and moon together. that day As it was getting dark, we cut short our hike and left the park soon enough.


Pioneertown

Pioneertown

One of the days, we visited Pioneertown, a town built like a cowboys movie set, like the wild wild west. Apparently part of it was built for movie shootings, and the other part of it was for people to stay in. Interestingly, there were no joshua trees there. Only the shrubs with orange fruits and parasitic plants on them.

The town felt so real and yet so old, like a ghost town. With a local post office and tavern, a sheriff’s office, a bank, and the big cactus, all built in the old style. We spent some time just walking around town and it felt like we were back in time. We didn't stay long there, it was quite a short but interesting experience.


Lost Horse Mine trail

Huge white flowers

The Lost Horse Mine trail is one of the longer trails of the park. We walked about 7kms to and fro, in about 2 hours. This hike goes up the mountains through a few ranges, to the old gold mine from the times of the Californian Gold Rush. It is quite a wide hike, though steep most of the way. On the way, we saw some huge white flowers which were gorgeous. And once we saw them, we kept seeing more of them the whole time. At a different time of the year, I think the whole valley would be full of them and they would have looked so pretty. 

View from the Mine trail

We saw a few people running up the trail which was quite impressive. But otherwise it was quite empty. The views all through were quite stunning. Once we reached the old mine, we read its history - it had been restored recently and still worked. Though there was no more gold anymore. 

Panoramic view from top

On a whim, we decided to walk up a bit more behind the mine to go to the top of the hill and we were greeted with a magnificent view, which was another highlight of the trip for me. The view from the top was out of this world. We saw a valley far off with boulderous structures everywhere as if from Star Wars. And there were no roads going there, it was like the lost land. And the clouds by then had spread out in the sky in a beautiful pattern. We got some really nice life-changing photos up there.

Sunset on the trail

And while coming back, all these clouds turned a golden yellow, setting the perfect background for the Joshua trees. I think I saw one of my best sunsets on this hike while coming back, it was quite stunning and surreal. I loved this hike because of the sunset, though I understand it was a chance incident. But still…


Ryan mountain, Skull Rock trail and star gazing

The Ryan mountain is one of the highest points of the park and we did a 5 kms, 1.5 hours trek to the peak. It was a nice hike, with some panoramic views of the park around, and all the mountains and peaks around. It was mostly an uphill trek and offered quite similar views other of the valleys below. At the top, we walked to the two peaks, and both had 360 degrees views of the valleys on both sides.

Looks like a dinosaur?

After that, we did a very long trail in another part of the park, where we first started walking towards Skull Rock. And then kept following the trail to Discovery trail, Face Rock and Split Rock trail one after the other. The walk was mostly flat but had some really impressive rock faces. In fact the skull rock was quite ok. But we saw more shapes, including a dinosaur which felt more true to their names. There were also lot of huge boulders everywhere, and we climbed one steep one to have lunch on top. 

There were lot of crowds near the skull rock, but the rest of the trail was mostly empty. And we ended up walking a much longer round than we had expected, more than 8 kms. And we thought a few times that we were lost. But thankfully that wasn’t the case. It was a nice walk, tiring though. And as usual my interest was piqued when I noticed and followed some new plants around. 

After this unexpected delay, we drove to the Keys again and saw the last minutes of another stunning sunset. After the sunset, we thought we might want to do some star gazing and drove to one of the star gazing points. There were loads of people there. We did see the milky way, but not a lot more that night. Partially because of the crowds, but also because the moon was out in full that night, big and bright. Guess if we had stayed till later in the night, we would have seen more but we got tired after an hour or so and left. But apparently it is one of the highlights of the park.


And that was our last evening in Joshua Tree. Overall I loved this national park, it was different. And even though it was a desert, I found all the trails slightly different than each other. Its definitely a place I can come back to, even just for its mesmerising sunsets.

A week in America’s Finest City, San Diego

La Jolla coves near San Diego

I spent a month during winter of 2021-22 in California, in San Diego, Joshua Tree National Park and the Bay Area. The key reason for this travel was to avoid the lockdown and winter time of Amsterdam. in addition to that, I also ended up travelling quite a bit, exploring a new part of California this time. I hadn’t ever visited either San Diego – the relaxed seaside resort town of California – or the Joshua Tree National Park – famous for the Joshua trees - before. And was pleasantly surprised to see how gorgeous and diverse these places were.

We started our holiday with a week in San Diego and around. Our itinerary was as follows:
Day 1: Explore La Jolla shore and coves
Day 2: Visit Balboa Park, Embarcadero and Gaslamp quarter in San Diego downtown
Day 3: Walk from Torrey Pines beach to Del Mar and back
Day 4: Run in Mission Bay park and explore Little Italy in San Diego downtown
Day 5: Hike in Mt Laguna/Anza Borega desert park
Day 6: Explore Balboa park


Drive to San Diego

Our trip started in San Francisco where I landed from Amsterdam. And from there we started our long full day drive to get to San Diego. At one point, we drove 300 miles straight on the same highway, without a turn or an exit! The landscape was sometimes boring and sometimes interesting. The exciting parts of the drive were the green rolling hills which accompanied us for most of the way. There were some impressive huge houses on top of those hills too - Californians sure love to live big!

 

Drive to SoCal

And between those hills and our highway were farms, lots of them. Some farms had orange plantations, others had dry fruits plants. And there were loads of cattle everywhere. And sometimes it was just yellow flowers covering the whole valley, till wherever the eyes could see. And wherever in the world there is agriculture, Sikhs are present 😊. We drove through one such valley which was full of large Khalsa and Singh farms all along the highway. The service station we stopped at there also sold Indian snacks - gulabjamun, amla murabba, aloo bhujia and many other such things. It was quite a pleasant surprise to see so much Indian food stuff in the middle of nowhere and we stocked up big time there.

Then we got to some dry areas where there were many posters put up all along the road, asking for more water for the farmers. Apparently in recent times, due to water shortages, farmers had been asked to cut down on their usage, and these boards were a sign of protest against those moves. And then we passed some small scale industrial areas, which were full of oil wells, warehouses and windmills. This was definitely the boring part.

Soon, we crossed some mountains covered with snow, and finally we reached the South California (known as So-cal) life. We drove past Los Angeles which just felt like an unending expanse of lights, crowded and bright, full of vehicles and traffic jams. It was good to avoid this part, and as we got closer to San Diego, it was still just one whole long populated and lighted place all along the highway. But surely calmer and more spaced out than LA.


San Diego

San Diego is quite a spread out town, all along the sea coast, lined with hills all along. A lot of the houses, especially holiday homes are perched on top of these hills and cliffs with some breathtaking views of the sea beyond. The town felt different, it had been a part of Mexico for a long time. So it was an older place with some interesting Spanish history, as compared to other parts of the US. It is on the border of US and Mexico, and apparently has the second busiest border in the US. Lot of people live on the Mexico side and work in San Diego. And of course it has lots of beaches and related activities too. The city overall had a very relaxed feel to it, probably because of the many beaches around.

Weather is the highlight of San Diego. It has a nice temperate weather all year round. And the winters are supposed to be moderate, with highs of 19 degrees. Last year though, December turned out to be much colder, around 15 degrees. It rained a few days too, though some days were still sunny and warm (one of the main reasons I flew all the way from Europe to US😉).

Sunset from our airbnb

We were staying in an apartment on Golden Hill. It was an ok area, with some parts more gentrified than the others. We could see the sea from our window and saw some glorious sunsets in the evenings. At night too, the area looked nice, with all the lights around and the downtown lights down below all switched on.

Balboa park, Embarcadero, Gaslamp quarter and Little Italy in San Diego downtown

Balboa park was a few minutes walking from our airbnb, so we tried exploring it. It was huge, but not so friendly for walking as it had more roads than trails. So we just walked around the roads a bit and came back soon. It has a few places of interest within it but one would have to drive to those places, so we didn’t explore more. One day when I went running in the park, I did find some walking trails but in the end had to run in a Golf course to finish my run. (It’s at times like these you realise how much European cities are setup around walking about, while US cities are not).

One of the days, we walked towards downtown and it was a mixed experience. There were some very nice areas on the way, and some quite the opposite. We had to walk through a few not-so-great areas, where there were lots of homeless people and lot of litter. The city also lacked character and it wasn’t as fun to walk as expected. But it was all so open and green, everywhere, so that was a plus.

Embarcadero waterfront

After the walk, we reached the Embarcadero waterfront and it was splendid. A long pathway all along the sea, lined with ships, yachts and boats on the one side. And hotels, open air concert spaces, shops and restaurants, the Seaport village and loads of small parks on the other side. We did our regular run there and it was fun to look around while exercising. We stopped for a meal at Seaport village and it felt fun (quite European actually 😉). We walked a bit further and passed by a huge USS ship on the way. It started raining suddenly though and we had to make a dash to our airbnb. Surprisingly, Uber was very cheap here compared to other cities, even in the US.

Little Italy on New Years

One other day, we went into downtown, to Little Italy (which is actually located on India street). It was tough to get parking as everyone was out that day (though the pandemic was still going on). The Little Italy street was lined with restaurants, all with outside seating. It was very very lively there. And they even had heaters outside even when the temperature was just 16 degrees! We had an Italian dinner there and walked around a bit, enjoying the vibe of the place. The area was well lighted for the festive season. But the food felt quite far from authentic Italian food though.


La Jolla shores and coves

La Jolla shores

One of our first days in San Diego, we drove to the La Jolla area which looked like a nice resort kind of place just outside of San Diego. The La Jolla shores was quite a scenic beach and everyone was kayaking and surfing there, in wetsuits though as the water was still cold. We walked on the beach for a while as I took in the warmth of the sun, after the cold fall months in Europe. We had lunch at Storehouse café, the area around it was full of restaurants and people. It felt such a welcome change from the lockdown I was just flying from.

Cliffs of La Jolla coves

We then walked all the way to the La Jolla coves, along the cliffs. The walk was along the luxurious huge houses on the cliffs overlooking the sea. You could see these were the holiday homes of the rich of California, just from the location and size of houses. The vegetation there was also different, with a lot of scrubs and shrubs. Somehow it reminded me of South Africa, both with the vegetation and the huge houses on the cliff. The weather kept shifting though, from sun to rain the whole time.

Sea lions at La Jolla coves

Once we got to the coves, the place was full of tourists. As we kept walking along the sea shore, we walked past herds of sea lions, seals and pelicans, all of whom have made this area their home. They were just lying on the rocks along the sea, sunning themselves and lazing around, while the tourists all around were coo-ing and caa-ing looking at them (while also trying to get too close to them). It was quite interesting to see so much wildlife so near the high-rise hotels and other accommodation on the seaside.

La Jolla cliffs

The area was full of people. And restaurants. It felt so much like a resort area for the rich. We hung out around the coves for a bit, then walked back to the beach. It soon got rainier, so we called it a day and drove back to San Diego. One other place we could have gone to nearby was to drive to Mt. Soledad, for apparently breathtaking, 360-degree views of San Diego but maybe that’s for next time.


Torrey Pines park

Restaurant on the Torrey Pines beach

One of the days, we drove to the Torrey Pines park which has some nice trails around. It had been raining for a few days, so it turned out that all the trails were still closed even though it wasn’t raining that day. So we just walked on the beach all the way to the next El Mar town. The whole beach was lined with tons of beach houses. And there were many birds along the water, notable among them were the local terns. It was cloudy and rainy all the way. And when it started raining in between, we stopped for lunch at the Jakes restaurant. 

Sailors at Torrey pines beach

After the break we walked till the end of the beach and then walked all the way back. The sky was still full of clouds but the sun came out for a bit, and we saw a magnificent sunset that day along the beach. And we also saw some people who had been surfing or sailing come back at the end of the day, while it was still raining.
 

Sunset at Torrey Pines beach

We really enjoyed this day, and even though simple, it had turned out to be quite a magical one, especially with the sunset and its reflections. And we got to do a bit of a hike anyways, as we still ended up walking 12 kms to and back. But of course, the park trails are still left, to be trekked some other day.

Mission Bay

Mission bay

On one of the rare sunny days during the week, we just went to the Mission Bay park which is a huge park all along the sea. We did a nice long 5kms run along the sea. It was a good place to walk, run or just spend a nice picnic day out. It also has a few lakes around and tons of picnic places. It seemed like a good place to hangout. There are two other islands in front of Mission Bay - sea world and fiesta island. We went to the Fiesta one, it was completely empty and we saw some people cycling there. But Mission Bay felt like a more active island, with some sea world etc. We didn't explore the islands much though


Mt Laguna park

On the new year, it turned out to be a warm sunny day in San Diego. So we chose that day to go for a hike to the nearby Mt Laguna Park. We drove there in the morning, passing through some small but gorgeous towns, all in the hills, offering a grand panoramic view all around. As we got closer to the park, we ran into fog. And once we entered the park, we were shocked to see snow! 

It was totally unexpected. There was snow all around, at least 1-2 feet everywhere. Most of the open grounds were covered in white. And the trees too. There were some wooden houses along the road, plus a lot of restaurants and other activity places too. There were loads of people around too, enjoying snow fights in the snow, sledding etc.. It seemed like this was quite a popular tourist spot and we had no idea what to expect.

That’s when we realised that the park was at a height of 4000ft and hence colder than San Diego. It felt a bit stupid that we had come here looking for a hike in the sun, without checking the weather at all! Anyways, we kept driving through the park and it kept getting colder and snowier. We stopped at a few viewpoints and finally got down at the start of the Mount Garnet trek. 

 

Cold and foggy on the trek

Even though it was cold, we thought we might as well do the trek, as it was a short one. We didn't really know the route, but started anyways following what looked to us like a trail. The path was there, though not well marked. We didn't know where we were going, but just kept walking, encouraged by people coming down, that it was worth it. But it was quite a rough one given how cold and windy it had become. It was extremely cold at 0° temperature, foggy, very windy and wet, as the fog and the wind were hitting across our clothes, making them wet. Walking was tough all through the trek due to the strong winds, as it felt like we would fly off.

Anza Borega desert view

The vegetation was all scrubland, everywhere we could see. At a viewpoint on the trail, we got our first view of the desert beyond - Anza Borega - which was sunny and bright. It looked quite the opposite of the conditions we were trekking in. It was also the last of that view from the trek. The last 10 mins of the hike were extremely steep and rocky. But somehow we made it to the peak. It was supposed to have a panoramic view of the Anza desert, but we didn’t see the desert below as it was completely fogged out. The peak was still nice though, with a lot of beautiful rocks strewn all around.

We would have stayed longer but it was too cold to be there. So slowly we walked back and then warmed ourselves in the car. We had finished the trek of about 6 kms in about 2 hours. And even though it had only been 2 hours, we were quite cold and tired due to the wind. So it took us a while to get back to normal. Still overall, we enjoyed the trail especially the fresh mountain air whispering through the pines. 

The drive back to San Diego was again foggy all the way. We couldn’t see anything till we got over a mountain pass and the weather cleared up only as we got to San Diego. And such was the first day of the new year spent by us 😕.

The whole stay in San Diego was fun, with lots to do. I could see how it would be a nice place to spend time in, with lots to do. And there’s a lot more to explore around, like visiting some of the other beaches, the old city, hiking in the nearby national parks or doing one of the picturesque drives along the coast. But as I always end every post with, to the next time😊.