Patton and Picnics

Patton insisted that recruits run 1 mile in 10 minutes with full equipment, in heat up to 120 degrees AND exist on one canteen of water per day

The "girls" in a Cholla Cactus garden. VERY prickly! The cactii ....... not the girls!

Patton's troops didn't eat like this. More "Two Buck Chuck"

Yucca, Joshua Trees and Creosote bushes everywhere.

The Desert Training Center, established in 1942 by General George S. Patton, is the largest military maneuver area ever created. It covered 18,000 square miles in California, Nevada, and Arizona. In preparation for WWII battles in North Africa, over 1,000,000 military personnel were trained in desert warfare techniques at the center. A memorial museum to General Patton and the DTC is located at Chiriaco Summit, near Palm Springs, at the site of Camp Young, Patton’s headquarters and one of 12 WWII training camps that were part of the DTC. It’s not the best museum we have ever visited but, it clearly illustrates the hardships that 1,000,000 men and women experienced.

The DTC is on the way to the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, a unique desert environment which we first visited last spring. Revisiting with Rob & Betty in late autumn revealed an entirely different stage in the desert ecosystem. Many of the plants were flowering. Last spring everything appeared to be dormant. Our picnic area, in the shadow of huge boulders with Yucca and Joshua Trees surrounding is one of the most unique picnicking spots, we have experienced.