Joshua Tree National Park:

Joshua Trees

Joshua Trees are quite distinctive – see photo. They are actually a type of yucca of the Agave family. The story is that they got their name from a group of Mormon settlers who saw the twisted limbs as the outstretched arms of Joshua welcoming them to the ‘promised land’. Looking at the terrain, we wonder if they hadn’t been smoking some of the local vegetation!


We stayed in Yucca – a strip town in the desert – all strung out over about ten miles and only a block or two wide at the most. There are lots of JTs everywhere through the town and surrounding countryside. So they are not just confined to the Park or used as an iconic marketing symbol.

From the information at the visitor’s centre, www.nps.gov/jotr the Nat Park sits at the junction of two major deserts, the Mohave and the Sonoran, and ranges in height from 900 to over 5000 feet. Consequently, there are a number of different climatic and geological zones that support different plant (and by assumption, animal) combinations. Apparently there are 813 species of plants, and 250 different birds, 52 mammals, 18 lizards, and 25 species of snakes, but fortunately, we didn’t meet any of them. Emily, you can read more about this at http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm and http://www.joshua.tree.national-park.com/info.htm#wild

Some of the animals are sort-of approachable. On a walk, David spotted a lizard sunning itself on a rock. By moving very slowly and carefully, he managed to get quite close and got a close-up shot. 

While the area is noted for the variety of plants and animals, it is also a popular rock-climbing destination. There are hundreds of mapped climbs of varying difficulty. While we were there, we met a couple of climbing guides who were waiting for their clients to arrive. One guy in particular was older than the rest (maybe 50-ish). He had severely gnarled hands and suffered from chronic dry skin – from the chalk that they have to use to maintain their grip on the rocks. He goes through at least a pound of powered chalk a day. Chatting about the risks, he had a very simple attitude to climbing – You fall off, you’re dead. He told us that he has lost several friends and colleagues that way.  BTW, the climbing guide is the one on the left - don't know who the ugly codger on the right is.

The zones where different plants can grow are quite clearly defined and it is odd to see a carpet of a particular plant just fade out like a line has been drawn and another species start up. The differentiation between zones can be quite distinctive and is easy to see. As we drove through the park, it was very noticeable where some of these boundary lines were. JTs that were quite dense a mile back have suddenly vanished!

Excellent examples of this is the Cholla cactus garden and the Ocotillo Grove. While we saw Cholla cacti (pronounced choi-ya) scattered sparsely almost everywhere, they are so dense at the garden that there are hardly any other plants at all.

Cholla Garden

 

Chollas are a particularly nasty type of cactus; the spines are fragile and will break off after penetrating. This wouldn’t be such a problem, but as they break off, there is a splintering effect that works like a barb of a fish hook, so you might be able to grab the end, but you can’t pull it out without leaving the barb behind. Oh, did I mention that they leave a sort of oily sap behind? Of course it’s a mild poison, so there is going to be trouble… David got a spine in the strap of his camera bag, and the only way to get it out was to push it right through to the other side. Not so easy if it was in a hand or a leg!

A couple of miles further down the road is another example, the Ocotillo Grove. While not as dense or exclusive as the Cholla garden, it is still a strange and beautiful sight of so many of these tall, spindly bunches of sticks all in one place together.

Ocotillo Cactus

Some more lovely photos at: http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.joshua-tree.html