Day Two at Joshua Tree N.P.

We reached the Park around 9:30 or so and undertook a one mile loop walk in Hidden Canyon. It would have been easy to stay a lot longer than we did, there just was so much to see and all you had to do was look a little longer... In another month or so, the desert blooms should be doing their magic, but we just couldn't stay that long.

The plants that live in the canyon have to be able to tolerate long periods of drought and thrive through the 100+ daily highs during July and August. That's a tall order!

Rocks do OK in this environment but over the years, even granite succumbs to the ongoing freeze-thaw cycles, and the drying winds of the desert. Over millennia, these rocks that sprung up from the magma end up showing at the surface as the tectonic plates create new mountains.

Erosion must be an artist since it creates wonderful canvasses like this one, a very square opening under the rocks that are held there by the flimsiest is mechanical means. Check out the end of this horizontal pillar to see if you would trust it staying there for a long time. Don't forget, this is just a few miles away from the San Andreas Fault

Over the centuries, this desert replaced a more wet and productive land. This tree is likely a survivor of long ago that couldn't adapt any further.

Other, newer plants, have moved in, and while they are not native to the area, they do seem to fit in, and look gorgeous.

Whether this next one is alive or dead was not of interest, I just thought it was still beautiful.

The twists and turns of this next tree are witness to a very difficult life, and likely a long life of very slow growth under extreme conditions. Like old hands, the character tells a story that I'd like to understand.

Next is a Cholla [pronounced choya] cactus that the Park [like California deserts] is famous for. The white spines seem pretty with the light shining through but don't let that fool you: this is one of the most vicious plants around. More about that later. The little red grass that surrounds it is everywhere, but not native to the area. Cute though...

Here's an Opuntia cactus, often called bunny ears or something like that. It too can be vicious, and having had to re-pot one many years ago, I can claim witness to its cruelty!

Here's another version, miniscule dark red spines and glorious grey leaf. You might notice that these ones are fairly thin and limp; they have endured a long drought and will need a few more weeks to absorb the heavy rains the desert had last week.

This next view is of one of the Park roads, lined with the Joshua Trees.

One of the trails took us to this beautiful stone arch. Arches are interesting, they are created by erosion over centuries, then the arch is formed, and later, it will fall into the jumble of boulders below. Any arch seen is but a fleeting moment of its life-span of centuries, so I guess we're lucky to be able to see them at all.

There was a cactus garden that consisted mainly of Cholla cactus. As mentioned earlier, these cacti are Vicious! The spines have microscopic thorns that make the spine go deeper into whatever it's attached to. The plant consists of little spiny arms, about two or three inches long, that break off easily and fall to the ground, or hitch a ride on whatever brushed up against them. If you step on one, it's likely to spring up and attach itself to your clothing, if you're lucky, or on your skin if your luck consists of bad luck. If it doesn't spring up, the spines will enter your shoe or boot and will continue to work its way in, unless removed by needle nosed pliers. Chollas merit their badge of being Vicious, and a very wide berth is warranted.

Having said that, their still pretty...

Later we drove to a look-out where we could still see snow covered mountains. There was quite a bit of air pollution, apparently from the large southern cities and Mexico.

The next picture is from the same vantage point. If you look carefully through the smog, you can see the dark ridge running diagonally through the picture near the middle.

That's the San Andreas Fault line. Things beyond it are on the ocean side of the fault, things this side of the fault are relatively firmly attached to the rest of the country. This is what is called an active fault line.

The opposite sides move two inches every year! The continent side [east] is building up mountains, while the ocean side is slowly moving northward while grinding under the east side. The grinding causes earthquakes, [which we've not felt yet, which is a good thing] and eventually, a big earthquake is expected to do very serious damage. I guess that if you plan to live a very long life, it would be wise to invest on land on the east side [this side] of the fault-line and eventually, you might have ocean-side property. ... or not.

Right now, the area around the fault-line is used as prime agricultural land, mainly dates and something else [my memory seriously needs a back-up]. We also drove by miles of huge fields of all kinds of crops, some even being harvested in late January.

Must be near paradise!