29 Palms
RV Parks
29 Palms RV Resort
This new campground next to a golf course is as nice as can be - right down
to the pool, spa, tennis and so on. This whole feeling of warmth seems to rub
off on everyone because before the first afternoon was over, several campers had
come over and introduced themselves and made sure we knew about card night and
the dinner on Thursday.
The Ficara families (three brothers and mother) prepared five big turkeys and
all the stuffing for the dinner and all the campers attending brought a dish to
pass. It was truly a feast and all the traditional items were there - everything
from cranberry sauce to the sweet potatoes and the pies.
Even if it isn't a special occasion, if you are ever in or near 29 Palms, make a
special effort to spend a little time at this campground. Besides being a really
nice place, it is close to Joshua Tree National Monument and if any of you
full-timers are looking for a place to work in exchange for a campsite CAll Paul
(1-800-874-4548).
To Do
Rainbow Basin
 Northwest
of Barstow, California, lies one of the most beautiful and mysterious locations
in the Mojave Desert: Rainbow Basin. It's a mishmash of shapes, colors and
fantastic formations, a place where water and wind have worked magic, sculpting
layers of sandstone and sediment to expose brilliantly colored formations. It
changes moment by moment with the passing day, with shadows falling deep into
canyons and cuts. Rainbow Basin is surrealistic, other-worldly, seemingly a land
that couldn't possibly exist on the same planet that holds forests and lakes and
lush meadows.
Rainbow Basin doesn't look like a canyon or a basin, but it's
called both. It is a gash in a mountain wall where geologic artistry appears in  splashes
of color and layered waves of stone. Somehow, it remains virtually undiscovered.
Not a single information center, interpretive center or even a
tourist-trap-gift-shop mars the presence of these magnificent natural edifices.
There is, however, some evidence of man's work. The Bureau of Land Management
has built a road through the basin, a one-way unpaved path that winds through
narrow gorges and gouges.
The plant life in the canyon is sparse: a little grass, a small Joshua, the
dried remains of a desert wildflower. On the of the canyon walls, however,
stand many Joshuas, sentinels guarding the mountain.
 With
each turn in the roadway something new, something stunningly simple or
incomprehensibly complex hangs over the passage, each more colorful and
fascinating than before. According to geologists, this was once a verdant marsh
and the home of many prehistoric creatures. Miocene-age horses, camels,
mastodons, saber tooth cats and countless insects once lived in this valley.
Their remains are embedded in the canyon walls, buried by sediments over time,
found by us in our moment of time. Many of the fossils found in Rainbow Basin
are now on display in museums around the country. So many have been discovered
here that the geologists have called the geologic period the "Barstovian
Stage."
Rainbow Basin is easy to reach. While the road to the basin is not paved, it
is bladed and maintained. You will not need a four-wheel drive vehicle. From
Barstow, take old Route 58 to Fort Irwin Road, proceed north, then turn left on
Fossil Bed Road and follow the BLM signs.
Maps
Camping
Camping is permitted only in the Owl Canyon Campground. The campground is
first-come first-served and requires a $6.00 fee per site. Each site has a
table, shelter and campfire grates in place. A water tank and pit toilets are
located in the campground. BRING WATER WITH YOU as the water tank can run dry as
it is used. There are also designated group campsites and an equestrian camp
that is available by permit only
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