Joshua Tree National Park (Oct 11-16, 2016)
Another National Park near Palm Springs, CA. This one was very interesting as it provided an experience with standing on the San Andreas fault, and looking at all the different rocks.
“Joshua Tree National Park is immense, nearly 800,000 acres, and infinitely variable. “Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act (Public Law 103-433), it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the park. It covers a land area of 790,636 acres (1,235.37 sq mi; 3,199.59 km2)[1] – an area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. A large part of the park, some 429,690 acres (173,890 ha), is a designated wilderness area. Straddling the San Bernardino County/Riverside County border, the park includes parts of twodeserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park.[3]“
This is a Joshua Tree – which is a yucca. According to legend, Mormon pioneers considered the limbs of the Joshua trees to resemble the upstretched arms of Joshua leading them to the promised land. Interesting tale of the name. (By the way, the Joshua Tree on the U2 album, Joshua tree, was not taken in this park but in Death Valley.)
Below are samples of some of the other plants we saw in the desert/park.
Within the park are two deserts – the Mohave and the Colorado desert. Below is the a landmark of where the 2 deserts come together.
So this is one of the rock formations in the park. Very large boulders. Mike is standing there for perspective. The rock formations of Joshua Tree National Park were formed more than 100 million years ago from the cooling of magma beneath the surface into monzogranite, with roughly rectangular joints.
This is another rock formation in the Park. It looks like a bunch of pebbles. The breakdown of these are due to erosion of the granite.
This is a fun stop – to see the Skull Rock – all formed by erosion of the stone.
Coachella Valley Preserve (Oct 15, 2016)
Another place to visit while in the Palm Springs area is the Coachella Valley Preserve. https://coachellavalleypreserve.org/. The reason we went here was to walk out in the desert and find the oasis.
Drive Down RT.1 (Oct 11, 2016)
On the way to Palm Springs, we drove down Rt 1/101. We wished we could actually drive down Rt 1 the whole way but there were many tight areas that would have made it difficult with our 43′ RV. We were able to see many great sights.
