Joshua Tree National Park

Today we visited the Joshua Tree National Park in Indio, California. This National Park doesn’t seem to be quite as popular as some of the other ones but it was definitely a fascinating park for me to visit. In this park, two distinct desert ecosystems come together…The Colorado Desert has a lower elevation than the Mojave Desert in the northern portion of the park and each has their own habitat. Joshua trees only live in the Mojave Desert and their twisted, spiky trees look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

Joshua trees, Yucca brevifolia, are a member of the Agave family. Joshua trees are almost always found in the Mojave Desert, but sometimes they are found growing near a saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert or in the San Bernardino Mountains. Joshua trees’ growth being with the germination of a seed and its survival is dependent on well-timed rains. The young sprouts grow quickly in the first 5 years and then slowly after that. These trees don’t have growth rings like most trees so judging their age is difficult and based more on their height. They grow about one-half inch to 3 inches per year and live for about 150 years. Mormon pioneers believed the limbs of the trees resembled the upraised arms of Joshua leading them to the promised land.

Within the park is a cholla cactus garden. There is a short hike (about 1/4 mile) through a dense patch of teddy bear cholla and the views of the mountains and the basin are amazing. It’s a short, easy hike but you should wear close-toes shoes as you can see by the “pup” attaching itself to my shoe above. The “pups” or barbed spines often fall off and then tenaciously attach to skin, fur, clothing, and shoes and can be carried for miles around to grow new cholla plants. While in the park, drive Park Boulevard as that’s a great way to see a lot of the park. You’ll see rock formations, Joshua tree groves, the cholla garden, and ocotillo growing. The basic loop drive can be made from the west entrance (near the town of Joshua Tree) or from the north (near Twenty nine Palms). The drive takes you through both deserts and you can easily see where the desert begins to change from one to the other. There are hikes along the way and short side stops you can make. We drove the entire loop and took pictures and will hike different trails tomorrow when we return. The drive gives you a chance to take lots of pictures and get an overview of the desert before making the hikes. I also downloaded the NPS app which allows you to download information ahead of time and save it since there’s no cell service in the park.

One famous boulder in the park is Skull Rock. Long ago, rain drops accumulated in tiny depressions and started to erode the granite. As more rock eroded, more water accumulated, etc. until two hollowed-out eye sockets formed and the rock began to resemble a skull. It’s located on the main east-west park road and we loved stopping there to have our picture taken. We will complete the short hike tomorrow when we return.

There were quite a few rock climbers in the park. I’m added some photos so you can get some perspective of the size of the boulders/mountains of rocks. I’m a fan of hiking but not rock climbing. I’m an observer of rock climbing but a participant in hiking!! Joshua Tree is one of the most popular rock-climbing areas in the country with more than 4,500 established routes ranging from friendly bouldering to immensely challenging cliffs. Tomorrow it’s hiking time. More pics and information on the hikes/park tomorrow!!