Human Remains Found In Joshua Tree National Park

Above, the south entrance sign of Joshua Tree National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Partially buried human remains were found in Joshua Tree National Park.

According to The Press-Enterprise:

TWENTYNINE PALMS — A visitor found partially buried human remains in Joshua Tree National Park, and an investigation into the suspicious death was underway, sheriff’s officials said. 

The visitor found the remains Saturday morning near Big Horn Pass Road and Park Boulevard, about six miles south of Twentynine Palms, and alerted a park ranger who then contacted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, according to a news release from the park.

To read more, go here. 

Joshua Tree National Park To Get Shuttles

Above, the South Entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Yosemite National Park has them. So does Grand Canyon National Park. Joshua Tree National Park will be getting them soon.

Above, a Yosemite National Park shuttle in Yosemite Village. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

What are they getting?

Shuttles! Joshua Tree National Park will be providing a shuttle service for visitors to get around the park.

The Press-Enterprise reported:

Visitors to Joshua Tree National Park will soon have another way to get around the iconic desert park — by shuttle. 

The pilot shuttle service program will be starting Friday, Feb. 2. 

It will offer rides to campgrounds and trailheads in the park from morning until late afternoon. Rides are free to anyone with a park pass. 

The shuttles aim to reduce congestion at Joshua Tree, which has seen annual visitors jump from 1.3 million to 2.8 million over the past seven years, said George Land, a ranger and spokesman for the National Park Service. 

“We’re hoping that certain segments of the population will leave their vehicles outside the border of the park and use the shuttle to go into the campgrounds and go in and out of different areas of the park, different day use areas,” he said. 

The shuttles will depart every two hours, with one leaving from the Joshua Tree visitor center and another from the Oasis visitor center in Twentynine Palms. There is also a shuttle from Palm Springs that connects to the two visitor centers. Another shuttle in the park will run every 30 minutes from Jumbo Rocks to Barker Dam.

Above, visitors exiting a Grand Canyon National Park shuttle. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here. 

How To Plan and Spend Retirement

Above, The Beast at Yosemite National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It has been two years since I retired. Like many have said, it takes about three months to get used to the new lifestyle. Don't worry, the time goes by quickly.

The Press-Enterprise has an article with seven tips on how to plan and spend your retirement.

It begins with:

Retirement is an enormous transition for most people. You’ve been working long hours for years and you have a general idea of what you will do with your retirement. 

For instance, you will have free time to sleep in, sit around watching television or play on your computer. All of these things were activities you couldn’t do while you were working. 

People are healthy and living longer. You probably (hopefully) have a financial plan to help you through retirement. Do you also have a plan to stay engaged and productive? You should explore different retirement activities and choose the ones most appealing to you.

One tip they provide is an obvious one: travel. Getting a national park lifetime senior pass (now $80, but still a bargain) will save seniors a lot of money.

They wrote:

You might like to travel in groups on cruises, train tours, motor home caravans or with tour guides to foreign lands.  Groups like these might get together once or twice a year but after you’ve taken the trips over many years with the same people, you develop a tight social network of good friends.

To read the other six tips, go here.