The California Riding and Hiking Trail is a 37.6 mile trail in Joshua Tree National Park.

After getting snowed out in Tahoe, I decided to head down to the desert for some warmer hiking. One of the unique things about Joshua Tree is you have to bring your own water. There isn’t any water in the park and if you happened to find some, it’s protected so you’re not allowed to drink it.

Before I started the hike, I left some water behind some bushes near Belle Camp and Ryan Camp. (I found a lot of good information about this on Bearfoot Theory.) I was pretty worried about water, but it ended up not being a big deal.

One of my favorite parts was seeing thunderstorms really far in the distance at night. So beautiful. On the last night, it poured for a few minutes. I stayed dry in my tent, but it felt like I was in a car wash. In the morning, I laughed since the ground was totally dry.

Here’s my full gear list for this hike.