stephenbrooks.orghiddenPhotosJoshua Tree National Park (Aug 2006)
Up

Joshua Tree National Park (Aug 2006)

On a free day from NuFact'06[Open External Link in New Window] in California, we went to Joshua Tree National Park[Open External Link in New Window], which straddles the boundary of the Mojave and Colorado deserts.

- - - [Documents] - - -

Search:
File (ascending)Comment
[jpg]20060823(000)b.jpgTravelling out to the park on the highway, past hills covered in yellow burnt grass.
[jpg]20060823(001)bg.jpgThe road also went by this massive wind farm outside Los Angeles.
[jpg]20060823(002)bg.jpgRow after row of windmills.
[jpg]20060823(003)b.jpgA better picture of windmills, but they ran out here.  I don't know why one of them only has one blade.  Not all of them were going round at once.
[jpg]20060823(004)b.jpgPiles of rocks will become a recurring theme of this trip.
[jpg]20060823(005)bg.jpgTrying to get a picture of the rocks but the bendy road sign got in the way (a lot of these were taken from the car window while moving).
[jpg]20060823(006)bg.jpgThe first of the famed Joshua Trees (which only grow in this area) that we saw.
[jpg]20060823(007)b.jpgA bigger pile of rocks.
[jpg]20060823(008)g.jpgSome things in the desert are larger than they at first appear.  I got to watch Roger, Grahame and Chris (left to right) dwindle into the distance until they were dwarfed by this Joshua Tree.
[jpg]20060823(009)k.jpgRoger was excited at seeing this bird in the desert.  Before it flew away, I took this photo which shows that the bird exists, if not much else.
[jpg]20060823(010)b.jpgA desert plant with flowers.
[jpg]20060823(011)b.jpgA nice view from the car as we drove further into the park.
[jpg]20060823(012)b.jpgThe rock piles here were characteristically rounded and had a rough eroded granite surface, making them ideal for climbing.
[jpg]20060823(013)b.jpgIn the slightly moister 'Hidden Valley', there was this miniature desert variant of the Oak family.
[jpg]20060823(014)b.jpgThe valley also contained different cacti, such as this old and manky one.
[jpg]20060823(015)bg.jpgBoulders lead up to a high peak, with a variety of plants growing between them.
[jpg]20060823(016)bg.jpgThe valley was bounded by these high rock walls.
[jpg]20060823(017)bg.jpgDead wood doesn't rot away very fast in the desert, instead becoming dry and blackened.
[jpg]20060823(018)bg.jpgSome rocks with a hole.
[jpg]20060823(019)bg.jpgComing out of the valley there was a good view of the plain of Joshua Trees outside.
[jpg]20060823(020)b.jpgBy the time we got down onto the plain for lunch, a thunderstorm had started up and it was threatening rain.
[jpg]20060823(021)bg.jpgFrom a viewpoint we could see many miles of desert but it got increasingly obscured by smog blown up the valley from Los Angeles with distance.
[jpg]20060823(022)bg.jpgLooking from the viewpoint in another direction, across a more barren part of the desert.
[jpg]20060823(023)b.jpgDriving back from the viewpoint meant going back through the rain, which was by now quite intense.
[jpg]20060823(024)bg.jpgIt didn't seem to soak into the ground, instead forming pools of water.
[jpg]20060823(025)bg.jpgThe road was filled in places with several inches of water.
[jpg]20060823(026)b.jpgAt one point we had to stop for half an hour until a flash flood in the form of a torrent crossing the road had subsided (the one shown here was shallow enough to drive through).
[jpg]20060823(027)bg.jpgI think this was meant to be called "Skull Rock", or something.  It doesn't look much like it in the picture so maybe I took the wrong one.  It was around here that we had to stop.
[jpg]20060823(028)b.jpgAnd now for something completely different.  It hadn't rained here and you could feel the heat coming up from the ground into your shoes.
[jpg]20060823(029)b.jpgThe reason for stopping was the colony of vegetatively-reproducing cacti, such as this fine specimen.
[jpg]20060823(030)bg.jpgThere were quite a lot of cacti.
[jpg]20060823(031)bg.jpgThis didn't come out well but what I think I was trying to show was that the rock piles here were more pointy and fractured than the ones earlier on, but you will have to take that on trust.
[jpg]20060823(032)bg.jpgI'm not sure why this was there.
: contact : - - -
E-mail: sbstrudel characterstephenbrooks.orgTwitter: stephenjbrooksMastodon: strudel charactersjbstrudel charactermstdn.io RSS feed25.16millionaccesses