Indio and Joshua Tree National Park

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I left Ehrenberg, Arizona and travelled west to Indio, California. Only about 100 miles, but it was drizzly rain and I had just cleaned the motor home and car. Ugh!
Although Indio is in the Coachella Valley which is still in the Sonoran Desert it is quite lush around here compared to Quartzsite. The area is surrounded by mountains and fortunately for me since I have been here we have had two cold fronts come through that have covered the mountain tops with snow making everything even more picturesque. The park here is really lovely; the swimming pool is heated so I have been able to swim most days. The grounds folks do a wonderful job; the bougainvillea and amaryllis are spectacular. There are three hummingbird feeders on the patio that are always in use by quite a variety of hummers.
Joshua Tree National Park is about thirty miles away so since the weather was perfect I headed out. The Joshua tree is not a tree at all but a member of the lily family. The American Indians who lived around here used the leaves for basket and sandal making and added the flower buds and roasted the seeds to their diet. Legend has it that the Mormon pioneers named the tree after the biblical figure, Joshua, who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. These first homesteaders used the branches for fences and corrals and miners used them for fuel for steam engines.
It was quite fascinating actually. Indio sits at about sea level; to get to the park from Indio the climb is about 3000’ and the climb through the park itself is about another 1000’ or so before it falls off to about 2728’ above sea level again. I entered through the southern gate which is in the Colorado Desert—which itself is part of the Sonoran Desert. At about the half way point on the park road the desert starts to change, I hadn’t seen a single Joshua Tree yet, but just a few miles further and they started to appear, I was now in the Mojave Desert , quite a bit higher too, and definitely cooler.

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Photos

Patio
There are always hummingbirds feeding here, the pool is just visible off to the right

Mountains in background
The bougainvillea (?) are just beautiful. Microsoft and 3 dictionaries didn't help with the spelling of that.

Early Morning
I took this photo of the snow capped mountains, early one morning. My motor home is the far left

Joshua Tree
It only grows above 3000' above sea level. It was named by the Mormons because they thought the arms resembled Joshua leading his people to the promised land.

Cholla Cactus
This cactus garden was just in one area in the Mojave Desert section of the park.

Cholla Cactus
Pronounced Choy-a, the spines are really sharp and the birds that live around here have been seen dropping their quarry on the cactus to speed up the killing process

Octollo
Although this looks like a cactus it is actually a duciduous tree. Unlike other trees though rather than being seasonal it is rain dependant and may drop it's leaves up to 5 times a year

Creosote Bush
Creosote bushes can be found all over the desert. The Indians used them a lot. In the Colorado desert they are more than plentiful

Bristlebrush
This pretty little bush grows in the lower Colorado Desert

Rock Pile
This rock pile just appeared out of the blue. The theory is that as the Earth's crust cooled more than 100 million years ago, molten liquid oozed upward and cooled. These intrusions are a grantic rock called monzongranite.

Cactus Wren
These pretty little birds sit on top of cactus or palm trees and just sing their little hearts out. They actually make a sound like a woodpecker's call--not the hammer.

Comments

[Al]

I stuck the blog on FB Lyn. Hehee.