GETTING TO GRAPEVINE - Joshua Tree National Park May 4, 2010

I have not been able to come with a good name for our trip to Canada so the next chapter will just be on getting us back to Texas. We left Hemet yesterday and stayed last night in 29 Palms and then this morning we headed for the Joshua Tree National Park.

Upon arriving at the park we discovered that it encompasses two deserts.  The northwest portion of the park sits on the Mojave Desert and the southeast portion sits on the Colorado Desert.

We spent the first part of the day in the Mojave Desert and this is where the tree that gives its name to the park is in abundance. Actually it is not really a tree but a giant member of the lily family. It is all over the northeast portion of the park and comes in many sizes and shapes.

However, the most spectacular feature of the park is the rock formations.  Geologists believe they were born more than 100 millions years ago as molten liquid and over the years became what they are today.  The area is very popular with rock climbers.  There are many different shapes of individual rocks and rock piles.

During our day in the park we took in Keys View which is the highest point in the park at 5185 feet.  After a relatively easy drive up to the viewpoint we had a pretty nice view back towards Coachella Valley and the Indio Hills.  Well today we had a good view as some days the haze is quite heavy.  The view from this point includes Palm Springs, Palm Desert, part of the Salton Sea and of course the San Andreas Fault.

San Jacinto Mountain in background.  Palm Springs is at the base of the mountain.

Coachella Valley

San Andreas Fault

We did spent a part of morning hiking through a small valley.  We thought we were in Hidden Valley and couldn't see what all the excitment was about. It was just a valley.  We never made it to the real Hidden Valley.  However it was nice to stretch the legs for a bit even if it was 90 degrees out.

A few other sites from the Mojave Desert

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The Infamous Desert Balloon Plant

While still in the park we were now leaving the Mojave Desert and entering the Colorado Desert and immediately there was a change in terrain.  Also the Joshua Tree disappearered.

The first stop in the Colorado Desert portion of the park was at The Cholla Cactus Gardens which is dominated by the Jumping Cholla Cactus.  The name is for its tendency to attach itself to the unwary and this you do not want to happen.  It's spines are very sharp and have little barbs on the end which make it very difficult and painfull to remove.

The final stop before exiting the park was at the Ocotillo Patch where there was a group of unusual looking plants that we thought were cactus.  We actually found out that this thorny, multi -stem shrub is a woody deciduous plant.  Unlike other diciduous shrubs, which normally grows leaves in the spring and drops them in the fall, the Ocotillo may actually grow and drop leaves up to five times a year.  The reason is that it's leaves are not season dependent but rain dependent. 

They also look nice.

It wasn't very long before we exited the park and headed the RV park we were going to stay at.  We have been there before and it is called "Fountain of Youth" RV park and are known for their natural mineral spas.

I didn't get any younger the last time we were here so I thought I would give them another change.  When we arrived it was 97 degrees.  How do you spell hot.

We quickly set up and got out of the sun.  Despite the heat it was a very good day.