We entered Joshua Tree National Park from the south, right off of I-10 and drove about seven miles to the Cottonwood Visitor Center. .While in that area, we visited the Cottonwood Spring Oasis. This is one of five oases in the park and is dominated by several large fan palm trees although it was originally just cottonwood trees when first mentioned in a gold mine claim filed in 1875.
Joshua Tree National Park embraces 794,000 acres of which 585,040 acres have been designated wilderness. The area covers parts of two deserts, the Colorado to the east and the Mojave to the west. We had to drive about 35 miles beyond Cottonwood before we began to see the Joshua Trees. The Colorado Desert lies below 3,000 feet elevation and its flora consists mostly of creosote bushes, the spindly ocotillo, and the much-respected jumping cholla cactus plus an occasional lone saguaro.
The Joshua Tree thrives in the higher, slightly more moist, and cooler elevations of the Mojave Desert areas of the park and beyond its northern boundaries. These unusual plants actually are not trees at all, but are a giant member of the lily family with the scientific name, Yucca brevifollia. They are in a subgroup of plants that also includes grasses and orchids. They may occasionally be found in the Sonoran Desert or in the San Bernardino Mountains. They grow very slowly, like the saguaro, and the best estimate of their age is to divide the height by the average annual growth of one-half inch per year. The Joshua Tree has clumps of spiky leaves at the ends of its 'branches' and, following spring rains, may have clusters of white-green, yucca-like, flowers on long stalks, also on branch tips. In addition to depending on the spring rain, the Joshua Tree also seems to benefit from a crisp winter freeze which may damage the ends of the branches and stimulate flowering, followed by branching. Those trees that do not flower, grow straight, without branches.
We checked out some camping areas in the park and thought we might enjoy camping in the Jumbo Rocks, Cottonwood Spring, or Belle campgrounds, but our plans change with the wind, and we did not get back to this area.
Before leaving, we drove another 10-15 miles to the Keys Overlook. It would have been a fantastic view of San Jacinto Mountain near Palm Springs and even a mountain in Mexico if the air pollution (mostly from Los Angeles), didn't obstruct the view. We stayed for the sunset, and, using filters, Lou did manage to get some good pictures of the of mountains rolling away into sunset.
