In our quest for sun we made our way to Joshua Tree National Park located about an hour north of Palm Springs, California. We luckily snagged a campsite in the park at the Indian Cove campsite due to a cancellation. Apparently spring break and a big tennis tournament in Indian Wells had filled up the park.
As we neared our campsite the desert gave way to massive rounded rock formations – very prehistoric looking – maybe a scene from the Flintstone’s home town of Bedrock. I had visions of the rocks gathering together and transforming into the The Thing from the Fantastic Four.
You can see a rock climber that had conquered the rock formation in the background.
When we pulled into our campsite it was being used by as a training site for some beginner rock climbers.
Then we set off into the heart of the park and came upon our first grouping of Joshua trees. We had seen Joshua trees driving around the southwest but never in the concentration we found in the national park.
Joshua trees are unique to say the least. They look a bit like they jumped out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. Envision a tree dancing the Watusi or doing an interpretive dance – branches twisting and turning and stretching out to the sun.
The desert floor was a lime velvet green due to the heavy rains in the winter and early spring and the Joshua trees were surrounded by other yucca and cacti – surely the prickly cholla cactus shown above in the lower right hand corner is one of the most angry creations in all of the plant world.
A symmetrical Joshua is certainly a rarity.
The Joshua trees only get to about 40 feet tall and experts think they live to about 150 years but it is difficult to determine their age because they don’t have growth rings like other trees. They are covered in a bear like fur that looks like straw when they are young but they seem to out grow that and leave a thick bark behind.
The leaves look like miniature yucca plants but like much of the vegetation in the desert it has some very pointy tips that can leave a mark if they poke you.
This is actually a picture of a mural at the Ranger Station with real daisies in the foreground.
But the term “living” desert aptly describes Joshua Tree National Park. Sitting and enjoying a sunset and a glass of wine one creature after another paraded past – desert chipmunks, lizards, long-eared hares, humming birds, ravens and we even spotted a desert tortoise and a baby armadillo on the road en route to the national park.
And the best part of the desert is the light and ever-changing colors at sunrise and sunset – I’ll never get tired of that!
Sunrise
Sunset