Moments in Dirt and Ink

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Along the road as the deserts change and the frequency of particular cacti changes, there is a little educational loop through a dense patch of cholla cactus. It turned out these were the delightfully wicked narrow spiny things I'd spotted at that first stop and thought were interesting enough to photograph with the Joshua trees. They didn't look very healthy at that first stop. A few at the second stop looked a little better. In the "garden", they looked very happy and healthy. The cholla cacti were very dense on the patch of land designated as the garden.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Hidden valley once served as a natural corral, according to the signs. The rocks completely surrounded the area and dynamite was used originally to open up a route to the inside. Now it is absolutely crawling with rock climbers. The inside serves as a nature trail with many informative signs telling much basic information about the flora and fauna of the area. There was even some information here and there about today's most prevalent fauna, the weekend rock climber.

A crew of folk, mostly international students, were going off to Joshua Tree to look about the place and I managed to go along with them. Once there, we quickly found a Joshua Tree to marvel at. Also some other plant life. A very large specimen of Joshua tree, which is some sort of yucca and not a tree at all.