by the morning of the 21st we had decided that we would go to the joshua tree national park and camp out for the three days because we had not found any gathering or festival or event where we could be with people. i had asked a friend who lives in the desert if she had heard of any gatherings and nothing had come up except she did suggest that we go to a place she called 'garth's place' which was somewhere on the outskirts of the tiny town of joshua tree. we had no full address, just the name of a dirt road. we were about to drive into the national park and find a camp site but decided at the last moment to try to find 'garth's place'. we went to the little health food store and asked the lady there if she knew of 'garth's place' and if she could direct us. she herself had not been there but had heard of it and could point out the general direction on the map. as the sun was setting we set out. when we got the the general area we just started looking for signs, hoping that there would be some kind of marker to lead us. finally one of the sand roads leading off to the right had a hand written sign pointing off into the hills that said 'garths'. we took the right turn.
as we were heading into the unknown a car came driving towards us. we flagged them down and asked if we were on the right way to find 'garths'. two young men were in the car and the driver said ''oh, you are going up to visit garth? well he's not there right now but if you follow us we are going to our friends house were garth will also be so just follow us.'' so we did. we followed them to a house where there were a bunch of really friendly and open people who were having a big turkey dinner who invited us in with welcoming smiles. we had dinner with them and wonderful conversations. we met garth and he invited us to come up to his place after the meal. we also met a sweet young couple, adam and erica who were also staying at garth's and so after the meal we followed them back along the sand road all the way up to 'garths place'. we arrived in the dark and were invited into garth's tipi to sit together, garth, adam, erica and lance, a cool guy who has been living on the land for the last year and my mother and i. we spoke of the changing times, we did a world unity meditation and we drummed together as the wood burning stove chugged away in the middle of the beautiful and amazingly decorated tipi.
garth and lance
tipi decorations
we decided to wake up early to watch the sun rise. we met adam and erica and they led us to the perfect spot. we perched on a big boulder over looking the huge expansive valley and watched in wonder as the world lit up around us and we could finally see 'garth's place'. it was breath taking!
almost
there
the glow
of the sun
on the rocks
with adam and erica
'garth's place'
the tipi
garth owns 640 acres of beautiful desert land. he has been living in his awesome tipi for 30 years. the area of his land where he lives in is a beautiful little valley filled with many, many amazing boulders.
really big boulders
funny shaped boulders
balanced boulders
rivers of boulders
piles of boulders
many boulders
chicken coop boulders
houses on boulders
me between boulders
garth's intentions for his land are beautiful and simple, low impact living in harmony with the land. creating a safe place where people can come and be in community together. he welcomes all people.
good people
lance and garth
the first 20 years there was no well for water on the land so garth had to carry water many miles in from town. now after 10 years of doing permaculture, there is a spring that has sprung up on the land and garth now has ponds with coi fish and water for the gardens and clean drinking water. it is beautiful! there is even a pool for jumping into after being in the hot sauna.
coi pond 
alter at the water
water of life
desert oasis 
green house
towards the spring
working the land
water collection
magic garden
outside the sauna
crystal bed inside sauna
step up to 
the pool
mom and i spent two nights on garth's land. we had a tour with lance around the valley and into exciting caves under the boulders and to the native american petroglyphs. at night we had a drum circle around the bonfire under the full moon that had a huge glowing rainbow ring around it.
in the cave
holding up the boulders
looking up
bonfire
moon rainbow
the horned ram
crystal table
kitchen and firepit
outdoor kitchen
fixin chicken food
garth's foot rest
'garth's place' turned out to be the perfect place to spend the 21, 22, 23 of december. we were surrounded by the most amazing nature and we were with like minded people ringing in the new world. it was beautiful!
happy me