It continued to rain through the night and looks like it is not going to stop anytime soon. Everyone in Southern California is delighted with the much needed rainfall. We decided that we will venture into Joshua Tree National Park and just deal with the pouring rain and cold weather.
We have been pleasantly surprised at the diversity of the park. It is quite beautiful especially in the rain. Two distinct deserts come together in the park , the Mojave and Colorado Desert. Joshua trees are found in the higher elevations of the Mojave while creosote bushes, cholla cactus and ocotillo are found in the lower Colorado Desert.
The transitions in landscape through the park greet you at every turn.
As we drive though the park we notice the dramatic changes in the landscape. From flat desert to outcroppings of granite that have been molded by millions of years of molten liquid heated by the continuous movement of the Earth’s crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface of the overlying rock. The plutonic intrusions of granite rock are called mazogranite. They are quite beautiful and form sculptures in the desert.
Ron thinks this looks like a shark eating a ship!
Ron wants to take pictures of every outcropping but we limit it to those that we think have characteristics of life on earth.
The rain is relentless so we by-pass a couple of hikes we would have enjoyed. It is 42 degrees with strong winds and whipping rain so hiking is out for us today.
We reach our destination of Keys Point. We have been told this is the one place in the park we cannot miss. The view overlooking the valley at over 5000 feet elevation gives one pause. It is spectacular even in the rain, cold, heavy cloud cover and winds that threaten to knock you over at 40 mph.
You can see the Salton Sea and the San Andreas fault from here. Somehow Ron didn’t get a picture of the Salton Sea and we cannot figure out where the San Andreas fault is. It is so overcast with low cloud cover. The pictures do not capture the depth and beauty of the place.
We drove through one of the many small CG’s in the park. Unfortunately the maximum size limit is 25 feet. That leaves us out.
The rain cleared for a few minutes so we were able to take a short hike.
Ron got out of the car to stand under a Joshua tree.
We continue our drive through the park and realize it is a place we will have to return to in the Spring when all the desert flowers are in bloom and the wildlife comes out of hibernation.
This balancing rock actually hangs over a picnic table !
The seam in this rock was caused by earthquakes.
The visitor center at the entrance we came in was closed for renovations so we had to do our trip backward and do the visitor center at the end. There was an excellent film about the park and all that it holds for visitors. After watching the film we definitely plan to return and explore it in more detail hopefully with some sunshine.
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