The Sonoran Desert and Mohave Desert intersect at a special place in the American Southwest: a home to bighorn sheep, massive boulders, and the famous Joshua Tree. The Chemehuevi, or Southern Paiutes, occupied these lands and I was pretty lucky to see some of their hieroglyphics painted on the boulders out in the desert. This one is of the Joshua Tree.
All along the road, these massive yucca palms rise to over 20 feet tall. Like giants standing in the desert, these Joshua Trees are able to communicate with one another. Conserving water in the desert is a group activity thanks to the shallow network of roots.
I went on a trail in the 90 degree heat through the Hidden Valley. This area of the park has plenty of massive boulders. A pile of rocks, it is a paradise for someone who likes to climb (like me). I climbed over to one of the peaks on one of the boulders and got a beautiful view of the forest of Joshua Trees extending into the horizon. There were also quite a few trees that didn't quite make it on this trail...
On my way back to the car on the Barker Dam trail, I noticed two signs. The first sign was about a couple that had gone missing on June 27th and not made it back for over 2 weeks! They had disappeared in a part of the park known as the Wonderland of Rocks...another area I would have loved to go had it not been cordoned off by the Search and Rescue team. The second sign was for bighorn sheep sighting. Low and behold, we ran into these two guys having their lunch on the side of the Boulder!
If one thought that Joshua Tree is beautiful during the day, it is even more beautiful at night. Countless photographers have gone out and captured the milky way sliding delicately behind the silhouette of joshua trees. I couldn't spend the night, but luckily, I was able to catch a glimpse of the sunset on my drive out of the park...and man was it something spectacular.
