Joshua Tree National Park: The convergence of two deserts.

February 13-21, 2014: Adventures among the rocks. (Part I)

Joshua Tree near sunset at Keys View.

  Two deserts converge: Mojave and Colorado.

The Mojave Desert makes up the western half of the park at elevations over 3,000 feet.  This is where you’ll find the park’s namesake – the Joshua Tree.  Being a high desert there are also pinion pine, junipers, scrub oak, and yuccas.  Wildlife seems scant but over the course of our nine days we see chuckwallas, lizards, grey squirrels, chipmunks, bats, and black-tailed jackrabbits.  Although we made every effort to spy the elusive bighorn sheep we did not succeed in that venture.

A view of our campsite at Indian Cove Campground on the northwest side of the park – the Mojave Desert.  The massive rock outcroppings resemble a colossal Jenga puzzle. 

The Colorado Desert on the eastern half of the park falls below 3,000 feet in elevation, and is part of the Sonoran Desert.  Creosote bushes are the mainstay plants.  We did see large ocotillo and cholla cactus patches as we drove through the Pinto Basin.

Every day is wash day.

Whether we stay near camp and hike a wash or trek out deeper into the park, every day is “hike a wash day”.

 We take a long hike through a wash near camp and come across this monzogranite rock with a hole through it.  How interesting is that?  This isn’t sandstone – it’s granite!

Another morning we meander off toward another wash.  See the Mini-Moose in the distance below the rock formations?

We drop down into the wash and before long come to this!  We climb back up out of the wash and hike down a ways looking for another entry point.

Sliding back into the wash, Jack winds through rocks and bushes with me trailing behind.  Eventually, we make our way back to our campsite for some well-deserved R&R in our lounge chairs – and a couple of ice cream bars.

Speaking of rock climbing, Joshua Tree is a world-class climbing and bouldering mecca!

Here’s a close up of the rock stacks that make up the northern edge of the Wonderland of Rocks here in the park.  Their formation is quite interesting, although complicated, so I won’t elaborate.  Suffice it to say, volcanic molten rock, uplift, water penetration, and erosion.  A few eons later and you’ve got a pretty fantastic rock climbing heaven going on.

With over 400 climbing formations and 8,000 climbing routes people are drawn from around the world to enjoy “rock sports”.  Regardless of your skill level there’s a rock activity for you. 

A family that climbs together, stays together . . . hopefully by not losing any kids down the side of a cliff.

Click on the photo and see if you can find the family climbing this formation.  Also, below is the close up that I took.  Dad in red, a little kiddo in yellow, mom bringing up the rear (Also her rear quite exposed in this shot.  Sorry mom.) – and another young child playing at the edge of the boulder waiting for the rest of the family to join him atop.

 What drives young women to climb mountains?  Perhaps it’s the young men in their lives.

A young couple directly above our campsite climb to the top of the formation and take the quick way down by rappelling.

And, here's a young couple at the Hemingway climbing formations. 
   

This young woman struggled repeatedly to reach the top from this point, as her male companion waits patiently atop the cliff.  It was so strenuous we could hear her labored breathing as she reached for her next finger hold and pulled herself farther up the rock face toward her goal.  We moved along the trail to watch others in their ventures up other climbing routes.  When we returned along the trail fifteen minutes later she had indeed summited the formation.

I could go on and on with photos of all the rock climbers we’ve watched over the last nine days, but I will move on to other activities.  It has certainly been an entertaining spectator sport for us.  We’re quite content hiking on tamer terrain.

49 Palms Oasis – How do you end up with an oasis out in the middle of the Mojave Desert?

Joshua Tree is crisscrossed with fault lines.  In fact, the San Andreas Fault skirts along the south side of the park.  When ground water reaches a fault plane it can rise back to the surface and create an oasis.  There are five such oases in the boundaries of the park.

We drive the short distance to the 49 Palms Oasis trailhead, slather on sunscreen, grab the camera and our water bottles and we’re off.  This is a 3-mile hike over a couple of ridges where the trail then drops down into a valley to the oasis.

Jack leads the way on the trail with the oasis before us.

While we’re luxuriating at the oasis, a young man points out a Kit Fox feeding on a carcass back under the palms.  We observe for a few minutes and then let him alone to his meal and start on our way back up the trail, over the ridges, and down to the parking lot.  Another adventure under our belts. 

We have a few more days and more fun escapades in Joshua Tree.  I’ll wrap up that up next time.  After that we're headed east to enjoy a few days relaxing along the Colorado River.  Until next time – be safe.