We did not want to leave the South Rim of the Grand Canyon this morning. It was going to be another beautiful day. But, we were on the road by 8:00 a.m. with Joshua Tree National Park in California our next destination. We arrived around 1:00 p.m. Once again, Jill (our name for the GPS) was a big help in getting us to our next stop. Joshua Tree is an 800,000 acre park that is known for its Joshua Tree. We found out that it really is not a tree but, a species of the Yucca plant. One of our guide books states that Mormon pioneers traveling across this desert area thought the tree looked like the prophet Joshua leading them on to the Promised Land with upraised arms. They must have been delusional from a lack of water! We were not sure what this national park would have in store for us besides these trees. What we found were numerous areas of large smooth rock formations that were very interesting and fun to climb. We learned that this is a rock climbers paradise. We drove up to Keys View which at 5185 feet is the highest point in the park. We could see Palms Springs down into the valley from this location. We could also see the San Andreas Fault line. We learned that the ground near the Fault line is moving apart by two inches each year. We drove the entire 38 miles from the North entrance to the South entrance of the park. This roadway straddled the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. We stopped along the way at various points of interest. This included an up close view of the Cholla cactus plant. Signs warned of the danger of touching this plant. The sharp thin spines can penetrate clothing, shoes and flesh. Regardless of the signs, I am sure there are individuals who cannot resist the urge to touch the plant. This reminds me of the Wet Paint Do Not Touch signs. Don’t you always want to see just how wet the paint is??? This plant also is known as the teddy-bear cholla due to its fuzzy looking appearance. We left the park and drove to Palm Springs were we are spending the evening. Ellen keeps looking for movie stars. She has decided to settle for me.
You can view pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/JoshuaTreeNationalPark?feat=directlink
More later . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment