Sorry about the hiatus in posting. I forgot. And there is, as usual, a wait list on sewing projects.
During our recent trip to visit family, we did a few walks. South Mountain Park has already been talked about.
Today I will mention that we also visited Joshua Tree National Park. This park is adjacent to Interstate 10 and just west of the California state border. (For those who remember, the infamous state ag department plant checkpoints don't appear to be staffed any more.) There are very few services in the area, as it's remote. Plan of bringing water and snacks with you if you're wanting to do a long walk. Also, of course, the usual desert area clothes should be worn as appropriate to the season.
The cutoff to the park entrance that one comes to while driving west looks like nothing. Take the exit, it's the only one as far as we could tell. It's straightforward, in that there are almost no crossing lanes between the highway and the park.
Part of Joshua Tree is in the low desert, and well furnished with such typical plants as ocotillo and some saguaro. The other part of the park is in the "medium" desert, neither low altitude and hot enough to be "low" nor high altitude and potentially cooler so as to be "high." The medium desert zone has as its famous plant the park's name plant, Joshua trees. These are an extra large species of yucca.
Another desert plant that grows in flocks in some parts of Joshua Tree is cholla cactus. This little thing that looks so cute from a distance is related to prickly pear cacti. Like them, if you touch it you will most likely get a flock of large and small (glochid) spines. In some places people plant cholla as a defensive hedge.
(We once had a prickly pear (nopal) hedge, it was pretty in bloom but a menace to beginning bicycle riders. It hid a huge cutter ant colony, too. Until we took the hedge out to put in a fence, we had no idea where the many, many attacks on our trees and shrubs were coming from.)
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| Cholla Garden cacti |
There is a lovely short stroll near a cholla patch. They have helpfully placed some parking there. If I remember right, the park calls this the "Cholla Garden" as there are tons of chollas close together there.
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| Jumbo Rocks jack rabbit, with rocks |
Farther on, we stopped at a rock outcrop called, I think, the Jumbo Rocks. I think they're granite, much eroded and really "neato" to look at and walk around. This area also has a parking area, and a couple of little tables to eat lunch at. (Bring your own picnic. And *pack out your trash.* I think I may have seen a restroom there. Check on the park map for restroom locations, campsite locations, entry gates, etc. There are no concession shops.)
Among the many very large rocks, and the amazing blooming cacti, there was a jackrabbit.
We got to Joshua Tree around 9 in the morning, an ideal time for strolling in the warm/hot desert. By the time we left, after a couple of strolls and reading some interpretive signs, it was nearing noon. We left by the gate at 29 Palms, a small city in California. I think there were about 20 cars and 30 motorcycles in the entrance lane.
This is a really nice park for people who like to walk in the desert--some walking trails are rather long and you're supposed to sign the board at the trail head before you head out on them--and view nature.
This year was an exceptional year for the spring blossoms in the California desert. One final picture from Joshua Tree National Park:
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