Just Deserts

One of the reasons we were eager to move north to I-10 yesterday was the opportunity to visit Joshua Tree National Park, and this morning it was only 30 miles east of our hotel.  The Cottonwood Visitor Center, seven miles north of I-10, was our first stop this morning.  The park covers an area slightly larger than Rhode Island and spans two very different deserts—the higher and cooler Mojave to the northwest and, below 3,000 feet, the hotter Colorado Desert, itself part of the Sonoran Desert, to the southeast.  The two are separated by Wilson Canyon.
As we entered the park, we were scanning the landscape for our first sighting of a Joshua tree.  On a trip to Nevada several years ago, we had seen a good number of these overgrown members of the yucca family, so recognition was not an issue.  They just weren't there.  When we reached the ranger station, we found—not the Joshua trees but the reason for their absence—from a friendly ranger.  The park's name is a bit of a misnomer, he explained.  Its original name in 1930 was Desert Plants National Park due to all the diversity of flora there.  But apparently that name just wasn't catchy enough.  It didn't generate interest.

NEAR COTTONWOOD SPRING, A SHOW OF PLANT DIVERSITY

So it was decided a name change was needed.  Even though the Joshua tree grows only in the Mojave Desert, the northwestern section of the park, it made for a recognizable symbol and had an interesting back story.  In the mid-19th century, Mormon missionaries crossing the Mojave spotted the unusual plants, which reminded them of a Biblical story of Joshua reaching his arms to heaven in supplication.  Thus, they began calling the tree-like yuccas Joshua trees, and the name stuck and later was attached to the park as well.

FAN PALMS GROWING AT COTTONWOOD SPRING OASIS

Though the Joshuas are limited to the Mojave section of the park, the Colorado desert is not without its share of interesting plant life.  The southeastern section boasts five fan-palm oases, set atop cracks in the bedrock which allow groundwater to rise to the surface and nourish lush vegetation.  The fibrous roots of the fan palm suck up so much water that one tree can produce more than 6,000,000 flowers when in bloom.  Unlike many palms, whose fronds fall off as they die, the fan palm hangs on to its dead fronds, which fold down to create a protective skirt until they are ripped off by high winds or burned away by fire.

OCOTILLO BEFORE (L) AND AFTER (R) RAIN

Another star of the Colorado plant life is the ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-oh).  Although it looks like a cactus with its long, spiny branches, it is not.  During dry spells, the ocotillo appears to be a tall, brittle dead plant.  But it reacts quickly to infrequent rainfall by sprouting new leaves within days.  Not one to succor superfluous parts unnecessarily, the ocotillo will shed the leaves within a few weeks to conserve its water.  In the absence of leaves, the plant's branches are capable of photosynthesis.

SPECIMENS IN THE CHOLLA GARDEN

Perhaps the sneakiest plant in the eastern half of the park is the cholla (CHOI-yə), a variety of cactus that visitors are warned to keep their distance from.  Sometimes called the "jumping cactus," the cholla tends to impale its spines into anyone who even brushes past it lightly.  Its branches grow in easily detached joints that accompany any spine that attaches to a passerby who gets too close.  Though it sounds like some diabolical plot to attack its enemies, this is actually the plant's way of reproducing, as the emancipated segment will usually grow into a new plant wherever it falls.

SOME OF JOSHUA TREE NP'S OVERSIZED ROCKS

Even without all this fascinating desert plant life, Joshua Tree National Park is worth visiting just for its boulders and rock formations that help define the park landscape.  Though they look like layers of sandstone at first blush, the rocks are actually a kind of granite, not unlike the type popular for kitchen countertops.

WHITE TANK CAMPGROUND OFFERS PRIVATE LITTLE NOOKS BETWEEN THE ROCKS.

Formed from molten lava, these rocks solidified below the earth's surface millions of years ago.  Over time, the soil and softer rock around the granite boulders eroded away, leaving what appear to be gigantic piles of rocks left behind by some gargantuan quarryman.

THERE'S JOSHUA!

Continuing northwest on Pinto Basin Road through the park, we transitioned from the Colorado Desert to the Mojave, where we finally began seeing some Joshua trees.  The ranger had told us that a grove of more than 1.8 million Joshuas was in the western section of the park but we never made it to the areas where the plant grew in such profusion.

After exiting the park on the north side in the town of Twentynine Palms, we planted a letterbox near the entrance and checked out the visitor center three miles outside the park.  About 3 p.m., we headed east on CA-62, a desolate ribbon of highway through an uninhabited stretch of the Mojave Desert.  Just outside of town, a sign warned that no services were available for the next 100 miles.  Our gas tank and water bottles near full, we pressed on toward Arizona.

CA-62 THROUGH THE MOJAVE

Some fifty miles later, we dropped south on CA-177 and in 30 miles had reached I-10.  Another 50 miles took us to Blythe, CA (pop. 20,817), a border town five miles from Arizona.  With its position midway between Los Angeles and Phoenix, Blythe is a popular stop-off for travelers on I-10 and offered a good selection of hotels.  By the time we arrived around 5:15, the sun had long since dipped below the horizon, and deep darkness had set in.  We stumbled upon the local outlet of a regional chain called Pizza Studio, a design-your-own pizza place with a fabulous array of crusts, sauces, fresh toppings, and seasonings.  We opted for a rosemary herb thin crust with basil pesto sauce, roma tomatoes, truffle roasted mushrooms, and freshly grated mozzarella, finished off with a brushing of garlic olive oil and shredded basil.  My, oh my!  It was absolutely delicious.  And we didn't even know we were pizza designers.

Tomorrow we'll continue east into Arizona on our way to the Phoenix area, where we plan to regroup, study the weather forecasts, and evaluate our chances of getting to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon on this trip.

THURSDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  La Quinta, CA
    •  Ended in:  Blythe, CA
    •  Miles driven:  210  [trip: 5,354]
    •  Weather:  41° to 59°, cloudy to light rain
    •  States:  CA   [trip:  8]
    •  Letterboxes:  Found 0, Planted 1   [trip:  F91, P14]
    •  Counties:  2   [trip:  111]
    •  Towns:  5   [trip:  243]
    •  Joshua Trees:   <1.8 million 
    •  Campers in JTNP:  52
    •  Cholla Hitchhikers we picked up:  0
    •  Total rainfall:  scant, but the desert plants seemed happy