Backroads and Lunch in the Wild

Of course, we did a bit of backroading while in Joshua Tree, and stopped for a picnic lunch among the boulders!

Lunch Spot View

No, we weren’t along Arch Rock Trail, but we did find another section that had bunches of boulders.  In fact, this was in a campground (tent only) and we used a vacant campsite for our picnic.  It was rather cool to be sitting among the boulders that shielded us from the breeze and gave us a bit of privacy.

Waiting for Treats

A back road drive wouldn’t be complete without our Miki, too!  She waited patiently while we ate lunch, strategically positioning herself so that we couldn’t forget to give her puppy treats.  Unfortunately, we weren’t good puppy parents and didn’t bring any!  We did manage to come up with a treat for her from our people food, so all was good in her eyes!

Back Roads to Travel

There are a number of back roads to explore in the park, but the one we chose was the Geology Tour Road.  It’s 18 miles and if we followed the auto guide tour, it would have taken us a couple of hours.  We, of course, didn’t do that, so we just enjoyed the views…..and the bumps in the road!

Back Road Beauty

This is a view of the road taken looking back on where we’d been.  This road was what I call a lollipop type of road.  There’s one road leading to a fork in the road.  Truly, the fork is just the beginning (or end, depending on one’s perspective) of the circular loop road.  Still, it’s so great to have such wide open spaces not very far at all from “civilization” (Palm Springs, CA)!

Joshua Tree Back Road

How appropriate to end our exploration of this park with a view of the first thing we saw upon entering it – a Joshua Tree. This one lined the back road we were exploring, and was a bit farther south in the park.  That’s why there were only a few here and there.  If you look closely, you can see power lines in this image – a confirmation as to how close “civilization” was.  Thank goodness people with vision preserved this land for future generations to enjoy!  Just FYI – Joshua Tree National Monument was established in 1936. In 1994, it became a National Park.

Enjoy!

Ocotillo Patch in Joshua Tree National Park

A bit further down the road from the Cholla Garden, there was a small patch of Ocotillo.  This plant is a cactus and is quite striking looking. 

Reaching for the Sky

These plants grow quite tall, far taller than Jeff or me (up to 20 feet high)!  And, when I looked up at this plant’s green branches, I felt like it was reaching up to touch the sky.  Altho this cactus contains barbs, they don’t leap out at you like a cholla’s does, so getting close to it wasn’t a problem.  Also, if you look closely, you can see a very few scarlet colored blooms remaining on a few of the tips of this plant.  They generally bloom in April and May, so seeing them in November was quite unusual!

Ocotillo Landscape

I thought I’d share this view of ocotillo in their natural environment.  There are only a couple in this image, altho there were a number in the immediate area.  They really didn’t appear much in other areas of Joshua Tree National Park, so they must need a very specific type of climate to thrive.  As a side note, the temps varied quite a bit from the northern part of the park where the Joshua Trees are plentiful, but the ocotillo are not, to the much warmer southern part of the park, where we came across this patch (and very few, if any, Joshua Trees).

Ocotillo without Water

Ocotillo go thru numerous springs and falls each year, depending on rainfall.  When the plant gets sufficient rain, the leaves pop out and are nice and green (below).  However, when it doesn’t get rain, the leave wither and fall off and the branches are bare – except for the barbs!  Interestingly, we saw ocotillos experiencing both spring and fall in this one little patch.  I guess it really shows how concentrated the water pooling can be.

Ocotillo Leaves

Enjoy!

Cholla Garden in Joshua Tree National Park

In one section of Joshua Tree National Park, there is a sort of grove of cholla plants growing.  We stopped for a few minutes because these cholla seemed to almost glow!  We have cholla in New Mexico where we live, but neither Jeff nor I can recall seeing this type.  Perhaps it was just the way the sun was hitting them, but it was really sort of magical!

Cholla Garden

This was the view from the road that made us stop.  The cholla doesn’t look quite as “glowy” in this image as it did in reality, but it was enough to make us stop.  I also love the way the mountains in the background set off the cholla.

Cholla Glow

Now you can see what I mean by “glow”! I believe this variety of cholla is called “teddy bear”.  It looks sort of nice and soft and fuzzy, but don’t touch!!  The barbs of this plant are incredibly painful.  And, there’s another variety, called Jumping Cholla that actually seems to leap off the plant and attach to you if you get too close.  Needless to say, we kept our distance from this pretty, but prickly plants!

Up Close Glow

No, I didn’t get closer – I just used my zoom lens!  In this image, you can better see the barbs contained within the “glowing” branches of this plant.  I did really like the effect of the glow, tho!

Ouch!

I guess if the cholla doesn’t get you, the bees will!  I think we were a bit late in the season for bees, but the sign is always there to warn folks.  I never knew bees were in the desert, and I guess that’s part of the reason for the warning.  The bees are always seeking water, so if you are there and have water handy, the bees will find you!

Enjoy!

Arch Rock Trail in Joshua Tree National Park

In the northern part of the park, there are fairly large groupings of giant boulders that seemed to have just sprung out of the earth.  Or, some spaceship from another galaxy decided to toss them around from their hovering spaceship!  Just joking, of course, but that was a thought that popped into my head, because it just seemed like such an unlikely place to find such gigantic rocks!

Contrasting Texture

This image gives you an idea of why I said what I did about spaceships.  This happens to be an area where there are a lot of the boulders seemingly strewn about, but there are other areas where nary a rock can be seen.  However, they didn’t exactly “spring” from the earth, nor were they tossed from above.  These boulders are made of a type of granite called “monzogranite”.  These monzogranites formed beneath the earth starting about 245 million years ago, and with the youngest forming about 100 million years ago.  Because of the shifting of the geological plates in the area, cracks were formed in the monzogranite over the years, and hot magma from below the earth’s crust seeped upward via a process called intrusion and helped form these shapes underground.  They also broke some of the monzogranite into much smaller particles.  Eventually, erosion caused the smaller particles to wear away, leaving this giant boulders protruding from the earth. 

White Tank Granite

Along Arch Rock Trail, the granite is called White Tank.  Scientists believe the White Tank granite intruded into the overlying rock about 135 – 150 million years ago in this area.  This was during the time of the dinosaurs, so maybe the boulders didn’t seem quite so large to them!

Minerals in the Granite

This is a close up view of the granite making up the boulders along Arch Rock Trail.  White Tank Granite is made up of three basic minerals – quartz,  feldspar, and biotite.  Also, in the past, this rock was called White Tank Monzogranite and White Tank Monzonite.  Different names, but it’s all made up of the same minerals.

Arch Rock Trail View

I couldn’t help but look up and enjoy the view as I explored along this trail.  I was continually fascinated by the diversity of landscape that makes up this park!

Rock Formation

Here’s a close up view of some of the boulders.  Imagine – in the spaces that we see between the rocks, there once flowed hot magma from deep beneath the earth.  And, think about it – all these rocks were once one huge rock, in a sense – the crust of the earth!

Peek at the Arch

Compared to some arches I’ve seen (at Arches National Park in Utah), these is rather a teeny arch.  However, it does illustrate how the wearing away of rock over the years has created some lovely pieces of natural art.  And, in time, the continued wearing away will result in this arch falling and tumbling to become just some smaller rocks along the path.  Things do change, whether we want them to or not, is the lesson to be learned!

Soil Line

Can you see what you may think of as discolored rocks in this image?  Well, they really aren’t just discolored.  That’s what geologists call “desert varnish”.  If you look toward the bottom of the “varnish” you can see a lighter color to the rock (the rock in the middle of this image seems to illustrate this the best).  That line reflects where the soil once was.  It’s just another way we can see that nature is constantly changing all things around us.  Sometimes, as in the rocks, we can see the change, and at other times, it’s more subtle and we don’t really notice the change.  I find it interesting that the Mojave Desert area was once quite moist…..about 8 million years ago!  Perhaps part of the change in our climate is truly part of a natural cycle.  Worth considering.

 Sculpted Rock

Here’s another piece of Art by Nature!  If you look at the bottom of the rock in this image, you can see that the bottom portion of it has been sort of sculpted out.  This happened naturally via a processed called cavernous weathering and undercutting.  This occurs when water is trapped on the surface of a rock or in the soil long enough to begin to dissolve some of the minerals in the rock.  Running water and wind then wash away the dissolved minerals.  Generally, this type of sculpting is found on the shady side of rocks, where the moisture doesn’t evaporate so quickly.  Nature is just full of amazing things!

Enjoy!

Unexpected Adventure – Joshua Tree National Park

I’m calling our visit to Joshua Tree National Park an unexpected adventure because it wasn’t in our original travel plans.  I had selected another place to visit, but Jeff had already been to that place before, and said it really wasn’t all that interesting, and that I’d probably be disappointed.  So, I checked out the map to see what other potentially interesting spots lie along our planned route, and discovered Joshua Tree.  What luck!  There was truly a lot to discover about this park in the Mojave Desert!

Beautiful Boughs

First, of course, is the tree the park is named after – the Joshua Tree.  You may wonder where it got its name – I know I did.  According to legend, to Mormon pioneers, the branches of the Joshua Tree reminded them of the upstretched arms of Joshua leading them to the Promised Land.  In this image, you don’t exactly get that impression, I know.  It looks rather like an interesting version of a typical tree.  But, wait…..

Joshua Tree Branch

Let’s take a bit of a closer look at the Joshua Tree.  To some, it doesn’t really look like a tree, but more like a cactus, with its spikey “leaves”.  I think the texture of the branches gives it a bit of a shaggy look, a bit like an Old English Sheep dog or something.  But, it’s not a cactus – it’s part of the agave family.   Another interesting note – it doesn’t have tree rings inside.  Instead, it’s fibrous inside.  And, they can get to be rather old, with researchers thinking a typical lifespan may be 150 years.

Joshua Tree Landscape

I just loved the way these trees added some character to the landscape.  Also, in this image, you can see why the Mormon pioneers thought the branches looked like arms reaching up.  And, my old opinion of the Mojave Desert keeps getting revised.  This park is located in part of the Mojave Desert – again, a lot more there than just sand!

Joshua Tree Birdhouse

Altho by the time we visited the park, nesting season was over, Jeff did find an old abandoned nest in one of the Joshua Trees.  There are a variety of different types of animals that call the park home

Stand Alone

I really like this image of a Joshua Tree.  You can see that it’s in a sort of grove of trees, and I truly love the mountains in the background.  I believe they are the Little San Bernardino Mountains, and they really are not as close as they appear in this image.  This park is quite sprawling and nothing is truly as close as it appears.

Joshua among the Rocks

One of the things I found fascinating about this park was the diversity of the landscape.  Who would expect to find these giant boulders in the middle of a desert?  And, altho these rocks may look like sandstone, they are actually a type of granite, not all that different from what some of us may have as countertops in our homes.  But, more about those later, when I actually strolled among them….

Key Points View

It’s true that still waters run deep……and I guess that peaceful views contain deep turbulence.  This view is of the meeting of two geological plates, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I took an image of the topography of the San Andreas Fault!  The actual fault is just outside the park’s boundary, but literally hundreds of smaller faults crisscross the ground upon which I was standing.  Yikes!

Enjoy!