roadtrip 2019     

This large bush was full of blossoms and it positively buzzed with insect life at the flowers.

The Joshua Tree (yucca brevifolia), for which the park is aptly named. A member of the Agave family, they share space with pinyon pine, juniper, scrub oak, and Mojave yucca and have an estimated lifespan of about 150 years. They do not propogate easily. According to the park service:

"Spring rains may bring clusters of white-green flowers on long stalks at branch tips. Like all desert blooms, Joshua trees depend on just the perfect conditions: well-timed rains, and for the Joshua tree, a crisp winter freeze. Researchers believe that freezing temperatures may damage the growing end of a branch and stimulate flowering, followed by branching. You may notice some Joshua trees grow like straight stalks; these trees have never bloomed — which is why they are branchless! In addition to ideal weather, the pollination of flowers requires a visit from the yucca moth. The moth collects pollen while laying her eggs inside the flower ovary. As seeds develop and mature, the eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the seeds. The tree relies on the moth for pollination and the moth relies on the tree for a few seeds for her young — a happy symbiosis. The Joshua tree is also capable of sprouting from roots and branches. Being able to reproduce vegetatively allows a much quicker recovery after damaging floods or fires, which may kill the main tree."

The creative touches at this studio where we are staying (Sacred Sands) include building the steel privacy barrier to fit precisely over the middle of a large rock, on which is placed a bowl of... rocks. Inside there are more bowls of rocks and stones, the result of which is a blurring of environments. The inside is outside, the outside is inside.

We missed the flowering season.

Ya, I know, it's a bush, duh. Haven't identified it yet.

But the flowers are lovely...

Soaking up warmth on a rock outside the kitchen window.

What a handsome fellow.

Here's looking at you! Notice the sparkle in this lizard's eye?

According to the park service:

"The rock piles began underground eons ago as a result of volcanic activity. Magma - in this case a molten form of the rock known as monzogranite - rose from deep within the earth. As it rose, in intruded into the overlying rock, the Pinto gneiss formation.

As the granite cooled and crystalized underground, cracks formed horizontally and vertically. The granite continued to uplift, where it came into contact with groundwater. Chemical weathering caused by groundwater worked on the angular granite blocks, widening cracks and rounding edges. Eventually the surface soil eroded, leaving heaps of monzogranite scattered across the land like careless piles of toy blocks."

"ring the bells that still can ring
  forget your perfect offering
  there is a crack in everything
  that's how the light gets in"
          + Leonard Cohen, Anthem

More monzogranite careless toy blocks.

Parry's molina

Desert spiny lizard

These jumbo rocks define jumbo.

Jimson weed, a member of the datura family (which also includes belladonna, and the moonflowers we grow at home).

Who knew? These things are good for more than rough roads...

These unexpected windows are everywhere.

Spiny lizard.

Rock doorway.

Barker dam itself. From the park service:

"In the high desert country that was to become Joshua Tree National Park, rugged individuals tried their luck at cattle ranching, mining, and homesteading. The story of William F. and Frances Keys and their family is particularly representative of the hard work and ingenuity it took to settle and prosper in the Mojave Desert. For 60 years Bill and Frances worked together to make a life and raise their five children in this remote location. The ranch house, school house, store, and workshop still stand; the orchard has been replanted; and the grounds are full of the cars, trucks, mining equipment, and spare parts that are a part of the Desert Queen Ranch story. "

This dam was built as a way of providing water for the Keys' cattle. It's at a low point this day, brown-colored and algaed (if that's a word).

The other side of the dam.

The water attract birds. The park service reports that great blue heron have been seen here on their migration route, this being the only water for a wide area of this desert.

Ground squirrel. We observed this little critter scampering out to the far edges of plant branches that did not seem strong enough to support it, but apparently that is where the goodies were.

No apparent fear of us. We were completely ignored as the ground squirrel scampered about, right at my feet, looking for good things to eat, but not from me.

Jackrabbit, right on the trail. We hit the hiking trail at about 8:00 to beat the heat, and it turns out most of the wildlife has the same idea.

We are here in time for the ripening of the joshua tree seed pods, a little late for the blooms, but here they are on this tree near Barker dam.

Close-up of joshua tree flower.

"It was a rare epiphany when light and point of view come together to make visible the common poetry of fleeting transcendence"
       + David Campany, The Open Road

These rock windows seem like portals to an awareness found only on the other side, an awareness that was actually here on this side all along but you don't know that until you've been there.

Text and images copyright 2018 Thomas D'Alessio and Jocelyn Boor