Today we left California's Pacific coast and began our trek east to our Ext national park, Joshua Tree. We skirted around Los Angeles and back into the Santa Monica mountains. Once again I was truly amazed by the beauty of this desert landscape. I now know that not all deserts are created equal. Death Valley is a much dryer desert than the Mohave Desert of Joshua Tree. On average the Mohave desert gets 4-6" of rain annually compared to the 2-3" of Death Valley. It has something to do with the location of the mountains and how the winds evaporate the precipitation. At the risk of boring all of us, the extra rain means more vegetation, one of which is a yucca species called the Joshua tree.
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| This is a Joshua tree |
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| Joshua Tree NP is a rock climbers paradise |
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| Petroglyphs on the Barker Damn trail |
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| Cholla Cactus Garden |
As we left the park we opted to visit the Cholla (pronounced Choy-ya) Cactus Garden instead of watching the sunset from the highest point in the park. We did drive to the highest point and it was a great view but the cactus garden bathed in the afterglow of the sunset was unmatched in beauty. We were both so glad we decided on the garden. Our Best Western was located in the city of 29 Palms, named for the 29 palm trees that surrounded a lake that soon became a town. Dinner tonight was at the Rib Co. and the ribs were falling of the bone delicious.
As we left the park we opted to visit the Cholla (pronounced Choy-ya) Cactus Garden instead of watching the sunset from the highest point in the park. We did drive to the highest point and it was a great view but the cactus garden bathed in the afterglow of the sunset was unmatched in beauty. We were both so glad we decided on the garden. Our Best Western was located in the city of 29 Palms, named for the 29 palm trees that surrounded a lake that soon became a town. Dinner tonight was at the Rib Co. and the ribs were falling of the bone delicious.
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