As their initial destination, Joshua Tree National Park in California was a United States national park located where the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert met.
Naturally, the area was dominated by desert scenery. Its representative plant was the large yucca species Short-leaf Yucca, also known as the Joshua Tree.
As a fairly typical western desert, popular activities here included camping, hiking, horseback riding,
rock climbing, birdwatching, astronomical observation, and more.
There were no paved roads within the national park. To drive in, it was best to use a four-wheel-drive vehicle with high ground clearance. Several customary routes led through more than a dozen stops showcasing the area's geological features.
But this terrain differed from the forest where Henry had buried Black Skye. The place where he had actually buried the Black girl was on a remote, treacherous hillside west of Joshua Tree National Park, at the border with San Bernardino National Forest.
Even the park administrators would probably find it hard to say which national park this location belonged to. The advantage was that, with Henry's driving skills and a carefully chosen route, even an RV not built for off-roading could reach quite deep inside.
When the vehicle could go no farther, they faced a steep hillside that could only be traversed on foot.
Not only was the ninety-six-year-old woman dumbfounded, even the two little girls who had proposed coming here stared blankly at the slope before them, one that would require both hands and feet to climb.
Naturally, Henry could not leave the elderly woman at the foot of the mountain while taking everyone else up. So he found some wood and vines, fashioned them into a carrying frame, and prepared to carry Katharine Hepburn up the mountain on his back.
Quicksilver, of course, did not let him do