Joshua Tree National Park

August 18th and 19th

We left Bakersfield, continuing to head south to Joshua Tree National Park.  This park is California's southern-most park, located not far from Palm Springs, and is at the junction of two deserts- the Mojave and the Colorado desert.  This divides the park into two arid ecosystems, differing in appearance.  These differences are based on elevation.  The Mojave desert is the western side of the park at elevations over 3000 feet.  The Colorado desert is the eastern side, below 3000 feet, and is part of the larger Sonoran desert that extends into Arizona and northwestern Mexico.

We arrived at the Oasis Visitor Center mid-afternoon, later than we had hoped.  We spent a few minutes watching the park's movie and got some advice from the ranger on where to go.  Based on his advice, we spent the remainder of the afternoon primarily in the Mohave desert, in order to see the highlight of this park, the Joshua Tree.  The Joshua Tree is not actually a tree, nor is it a cactus, but a member of the Yucca family.   They can get quite large, up to 40 feet tall at about an inch per year, and develop many wild-looking "arms" once they have blossomed.  Occasionally, you will see a very tall, armless tree.  Basically, this is a tree that has never blossomed.

The other feature of the Mohave portion of the park is the rock formations.  These formations appear as jumbled piles, often in angular blocks.  The rocks are granite, which was formed from underground magma.  The magma pushed up into the rock above, began to cool and crystallize, forming horizontal and vertical cracks.  Chemical weathering from water flowing into the cracks, widening them and rounding the edges.  The result is these piles of blocks lying everywhere.

The ranger had told us of sightings of Bighorn sheep earlier in the day at a location called Barker's Dam.  Barker's Dam is a rustic dam built by cowboys in the early 1900's to store water for cattle.  Eventually, due to less and less rain in the area, cattle were no longer kept here.  The dam is still present, holding rainwater most of the year, which attracts wildlife.  Unfortunately, the "reservoir" had no water at present, but was damp, allowing lush grass to grow.  That was the attraction for the sheep.  We hiked the 1 1/2 mile loop trail in to the dam, seeing birds and the zebra tailed lizard, but no Bighorn sheep!  Disappointing, but a nice walk with beautiful views of the rocks and Joshua trees.

We continued on our scenic drive, stopping to take a few shots of Skull Rock.  When you see the picture, you'll understand its name!  By that time, it was getting late, and our hotel was over an hour away.  We drove south out of the park, toward the Cottonwood entrance, in order to see the Colorado portion of the park.  We descended gradually below the 3000 foot elevation level, noting the disappearance of the Joshua Trees.  There were still many other cactus, such as the Ocotillo, a graceful green multi-stemmed cactus that blooms with bright red blossoms in the spring.  We also stopped at the Cholla Garden, a grouping of Cholla Cactus, often referred to as Jumping Cholla due to its tendency to "grab" the unwary with its thorns.  The lower section began to look more like the Great Basin-type desert, with low brush, including the Creosote bush, which releases a toxin into the soil around it to discourage any competition for water.

We wished we had a little more time for this park, but it was not to be.  We arrived at our hotel in Indio late.  We had hoped to have dinner at a restaurant we had gone to a number of years ago.  However, it was closed for renovation, so we walked next door to a casino that had several restaurants.  This is certainly not the popular time of year here for tourists, for good reason.  Not only was it hot (over 100 when we arrived, stayed in the 80's all night), but HUMID!  Yes, I know South Carolina is humid, but Indio was worse!  It was like trying to breath through a wet wool blanket!

One of the larger Joshua Trees

Mohave Desert View

Back side of Barker's Dam

The "bark" of the Joshua Tree

Cistern filled from dam to provide water for cattle

Close-up of Teddy Bear Cholla cactus

Dust Devil

Joshua Tree Desert

Front side of Barker's Dam

Rock wall behind Joshua trees

A nice looking tree

Jumping Cholla Garden

Ocotillo Cactus

Rock with desert varnish

Skull Rock

What NOT to take camping!

Teddy Bear Cholla

Desert view

Unusual rocks

Barker's Dam "reservoir"

Note cube-shaped piles

Zebra tailed lizard

We left the oppressive air of Indio Sunday morning, but not before stopping at Shields Date Farm for a delicious date shake!  We also had a few date samples, but the shake was the big attraction.  On route to Arizona and Saguaro National Park, we passed through miles of desert.  It was quite windy and we saw many "dust devils", spinning funnels of dust that can reach several hundred feet into the air.  Not sure exactly what causes them, but they were everywhere this day.  Dale got a good example of one- not bad at 75 miles per hour!  We took the shot of the truck with the plane and classic car just because it is not something you see everyday....