STILL IN NILAND

Well, today we took a short trip to Joshua National Park.  This is a beautiful park which encompasses two different deserts.  The Colorado Desert which is where we are, and the Mohave Desert.  The only way you can tell where these two deserts intersect is by the vegetation in them. 

We drove in on Cottonwood side and that was the Colorado.  Lots of Ocatillo trees, and cholla cactus.  The cholla are also known as the jumping cactus, they have a way of getting onto jackets, other clothing, animals and us.  They were in bloom because of a recent downpour and it was really a sight to see.  We walked along this trail in this cactus garden full of them.  There were literally about a thousand plants.  We also saw lots of Ocatillo trees which are tall and resemble twigs with fuzzy red blooms which look like catipillars.  Some of the trunks were green and some were brown.  The pictures tell the story. 

There are also loads of rock formations in the park, and one of them looked like the head of a pig.  See if you agree.  The Mohave Desert side is where the Joshua Trees are located.  These trees look like tall Yucca Plants. 

In the Cottonwood section of the park the Cahuilla Indians were.  They used the spring at Cottonwood Springs area and left behind mortars, clay pots or ollas.  They were there for centuries. 

We left the park and headed into the town of Twenty Nine Palms.  We had lunch in a nice rib joint.  Joel had great babybackback ribs and I had beef brisket.  The French fries were handcut and delicious.  We had sweet tea, which we have not had since we were south.  Then we went thru a couple of rustic towns, Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley, then to Palm Desert and made our way back home.  A beautiful day.  Enjoy the photos.

 

These are the Ocatillo trees

 

 

 

 

Lots of pics of the Cholla cactus, don't get too close

 

 

 

Rock formations, doesn't the lower one look like the head of a pig

 

 

 

 

 

Joel enjoying the beautiful surroundings