5-THE OLD HOMESTEAD CABIN

Sometime back in the mid-50’s Don’s dad entered a drawing. If his name was selected it would make him eligible to homestead a five acre parcel of desert land outside of Joshua Tree, California. Once he built a structure on it, (within a certain period of time) it was his, free and clear.

 His name was chosen and he homesteaded that parcel in the desert. He built a small one-room cabin, about 20 by 26 feet, simple and very, very basic. It was a “get-away” cabin, not a main residence.

 We left our RV park in Desert Hot Springs on Monday morning and headed up the hill toward Morongo Valley and the towns of Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree.

On the way Don was telling me stories about the time he spent with the family in this cabin. These stories included one Easter week during his college days, when alone at the cabin, he did weight lifting, running across the desert (hopefully clothed!) and writing on one of those old, old typewriters. Although I have heard all of these stories many times before it was nice to see Don remembering the “Good Old Days.”

 This day we were on a mission to find the old cabin and we knew it was just beyond the town of Yucca Valley, out in the desert…somewhere. We hadn’t been there for many years and were amazed at how large the town had grown, throwing us somewhat off balance. We were soon to discover more things that had changed.

 About 22 years ago, we took Dad out there on the same mission as we took on Tuesday…to find the cabin.

 Numerous other people homesteaded out there and constructed very similar cabins. They all looked very much alike and were scattered across the desert floor like so many dice on a game board.

 Dad had sold the place in the late 60’s or 70”s and now had trouble remembering exactly where it was. The roads were all dirt, and the houses all looked so much alike. We drove several dirt roads until eventually, we found the right house.

 There was great reminiscing between Don and his Dad about the days spent there. Still there, was the water storage system his dad had for the water that was trucked in to water plants, and of course the outhouse with the quarter moon in the door that Don and his dad built together. They had built it and trailered it out from their home in the L.A. area, dug the hole and set it in place.

 For me, well, I have always had great love and respect for Don’s late mother. However, that day my respect for her escalated greatly.

What woman would willingly spend time in the middle of the desert in a one-room cabin? There were no inside walls or any other siding on the inside of the cabin, just the outside walls and the raw studs staring back at her…not to mention the lack of running water, indoor plumbing and no electricity.

 I totally failed to see the “charm” of vacationing among cactus, blowing sand and rattlesnakes.

 Now we again drove the dirt roads, seeing nothing but desert.

We drove and drove. Nothing. We actually found an old outhouse but the moon was in the back, not in the door. So that wasn’t it! Besides, it had electricity to it.

We were about to give up. Then we got a call from Jan, Clarence, (front row) JoAnn and Earl, (back row) our neighbors at the RV park and members of our Oregon/Washington C4C Chapter, inviting us to have lunch at the Applebee’s in Yucca Valley. So we headed there. It would be a good break.

 Over lunch, Don said, “Sometimes you just can’t go back!” However, after lunch we DID go back to search some more.

 Many of the little old cabins that had been everywhere 22 years ago were gone. Some had upgraded into real homes. Others were just not there.

Again, we drove many dirt roads…and then, there it was! It was not the original pink color, it had been painted tan, but everything else was there.  Don scrapped off a little of the tan paint and there was the pink underneath!

The water storage tanks were there….

It was the same type of windows that Don remembered. We peaked in through the dirty glass slats at the old pot bellied stove and bits and pieces of furniture. It had probably not been lived in for 10 years. It was pretty much a mess. But then, what else would we expect?

Then, to remove any doubt, we walked to the back…there was the outhouse! The door with the moon laying on the ground in front of the outhouse itself!

(Did Don actually SIT on that seat??? Ewww!!!)

“See? There it is!!”

Surprisingly, we even found the address! So it’s not lost after all.

Even though the place was in total disrepair, Don’s late father would have been pleased that we found it.

On the way back we went to Giant Rock near Landers. It was a bit of an effort to find it as even the locals we asked, knew it was near by, didn’t know exactly how to get there.

Eventually, we found a desert, dirt road leading back to where we hoped it would be. Don was cruising along the relatively smooth dirt road, probably a bit faster than he should have.

Suddenly, WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!! 


We had hit the tops of five deep dips in the road. What Don described as “sand dune moguls.” He hit the brakes, but it didn’t slow the Jeep because most of the time we were in the air. I hit my head on the roof, but thanks to the seat belt, not hard. When we finally stopped, I said, “You didn’t know this car could fly, did you?” Well, that was a new experience!!

Then we arrived at Giant Rock.

There is an interesting story about Giant Rock. It is a large free standing boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California. It covers 5,800 square feet and seven stories high. It is purported to be the largest free standing boulder in the world.

In the 1950’s it was a gathering place for UFO believers. At that time the land was leased by George VanTassel, a purported flying-saucer contactee and organizer of UFO conventions.

A single large room, which was subsequently filled in, was dug beneath the rock and resided in by a prospector named Frank Critzer during the 30’s and early 40’s.

Critzer, a friend of Van Tassel’s perished in a self-detonated dynamite explosion in the room on July 24, 1942 while being investigated by local police. 


Shortly after the turn of the 21st Century, Giant Rock fractured in two, revealing an interior of white granite. The exterior surface of the rock is partially covered in graffiti. So are the surrounding rocks in the area.

There is also still a large black area on the rock left over from the explosion.

The next blog posting will include our trip up the Palm Springs Tram and Cabot’s Pueblo Museum.