“Yeah, Desert Sky - Dream beneath the Desert Sky”
A drive through Joshua Tree National Park might take a couple hours, viewing the park from the road. An exploration of the park would take a lifetime. Joshua Tree National Park has over 550,000 acres of wilderness filled with a variety of plants and animals that make their home in this land shaped by strong winds, unpredictable torrents of rain, and climatic extremes. Every now and then, man intrudes in this wilderness and leaves his brief, passing mark among the surreal geologic features that cover the landscape. Let’s go see what we can find.
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.
Read MoreThe White Cliffs of Dover is a well-known rock climbing formation located less than one mile south of the parking area at Quail Springs picnic area. Not used to doing things the easy way, I drove a bit south of QS and parked in a pullout on the west side of Park Blvd. This jaunt was a spur-of-the-moment idea. I was actually heading towards Jumbo Rocks, but caught a nice view of the cliffs as I was driving past, so decided to hike out to them to see what I could find.
Read MorePut the Desert Queen Ranch, aka Keys Ranch, on your list of things to see on your next visit to Joshua Tree National Park. It's a glimpse back in time to a hardier era, and into the mind of one of the area's most notable early-day settlers, Bill Keys. The Ranch is only accessible via Ranger-guided tours, and generally only on the weekends. Check in at any of the visitor centers located at the park entrances to make a reservation.
Read MoreI really like the texture and saturated colors of linen postcards, and their slightly soft focus, due to printing on an uneven surface. Out of all the linen postcard categories, my favorites are the Large Letter postcards. They typically have a small “Greetings from,” or “Visit” up in one corner and then the name of a place, town, city, etc. in large block letters. Inside the large block letters are local images from named place.
Read MoreWhile driving along a stretch of open road, something off in the distance catches my eye. Hmmmm, that demands investigation. T Red finds its way along a dirt road and up a slight hill to what appears to be the ruin of an old milling operation.
Read MoreJoshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.
