Turtle Rock Walk

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Turtle Rock Walk

Adjacent to the parking area for the Hidden Valley Nature Trail is a massive rock formation known as Turtle Rock. If you're a rock climber, you've probably heard the stories of Turtle Rock, and maybe climbed to the top via one of the numerous routes on either the south or east face. Perhaps you chose Wandering Tortoise or Give a Mouse a Cookie, or maybe Turtle Soup. Atop Turtle Rock you surveyed your kingdom, and proclaimed in a majestic voice to your Joshua Tree subjects, "Follow me!"

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Two Days in April - Joshua Tree National Park

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Two Days in April - Joshua Tree National Park

It was early April and the wildflowers were everywhere. Sometimes you had to look for them, but they gave themselves away with their bright spots of color against the unusually green desert backdrop. 

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Eldorado Mine - Joshua Tree National Park

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Eldorado Mine - Joshua Tree National Park

The first thing I noticed was, how green was the valley. The substantial amount of rain this past winter has really changed the look of JTree. Two months from now, this picture will look a lot different. The second thing I noticed was, lots of colorful splashes along the way, partly responsible for tuning a 3-mile hike into a 5-mile hike. 

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Wildflowers - Southern Joshua Tree National Park

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Wildflowers - Southern Joshua Tree National Park

With all the rain JTree had received over the winter, there's been a lot of talk about 2017 being an excellent year for wildflowers in Joshua Tree National Park. Even though it wasn't technically springtime, I thought I'd head out to see what I could find. I wasn't disappointed.

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