6 Jan 18
BLM Land, JT
Yep, come on, you knew the name Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) was given by a group of Mormon settlers… They were crossing the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century and the tree’s unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.
“JT” as the locals refer to here, became a National Monument in 1936 and National Park in 1994 and is big as Rhode Island.
Okay, before we got to Joshua Tree, sunrise was awesome, 60 degrees at 6am. Wow can’t beat it…
We took off about 0930 en route to the JT Cottonwood visitor center about 7 miles from home. The drive from here (in the Colorado desert about 1700ft), yep confusing, we are in Cali) is a slow climb as the Mojave is “high” desert. (which means something total different to folks here in Cali, as pot is now legalized)……Here we got our bearings with a map of the park (our binoculars) and off we went exploring through very uncharted territory on a 2 lane winding road through the brown desert.
It would take an hour drive before we would see our first Joshua Tree.
The landscape of the park changes as we continue our drive. The south portion is relatively flat and very brown and barren. As we approach the northern section, huge rock outcroppings emerged. The second picture is called “Skull” rock… Lots of hikers and rock climbers all over the place, some defying gravity, and some defying common sense.
Our drive took us through the “Lost Horse (gold) Mine”, “Hidden Valley”, “Barker Dam”, “Jumbo Rocks”, “Chollo Cactus Garden”, “Ocotillo Patch”. All very unique and kool areas one just doesn’t see everyday. Our drive culminated at the Keys view. At 5185 feet high, the view is overlooking Palm Springs, Indio, the San Andrea’s Fault, and the Salton Sea. Very impressive and the LA smog cooperated some so we could actually see into the valley below.
We had packed a picnic lunch and we found a flat table rock to spread out our fixins…. We continued to enjoy the panorama views and when lunch was over we headed down to the desert floor making many stops at outcroppings and looking at the Yucca Brevifolia.
