Joshua Tree National Park

Steven stands next to a Joshua Tree.  Estimated height? 20 feet

This week we are temporary empty nesters.  Samuel is in Utah with his cousins and his brother Benjamin is a thousand miles away finishing his first semester in college.  So Steven and I decided to take a mini vacation to the desert, specifically Joshua Tree National Park in Riverside County.  The park is nearly 800,000 square miles and straddles the Mojave and Colorado deserts.  Created as a national park in 1936, it is covered with its namesake plant, the Joshua Tree.  The "wild armed" Joshua Tree is not a tree, but a yucca on steroids.  These big plants can reach 40 feet, but they grow at a leisurely rate of one inch a year.  So this big specimen that Steven is standing next to is over 200 years old.  Joshua trees are thick upon the ground in the Western part of the park.  They look like forests, even if they aren't technically trees.

It's spring time in the desert.

We also visited the park in April, prime blossom time.  Here's a picture of me taking a picture of a Mojave Mound Cactus, with brilliant red blossoms.

Beautiful blooms amid the brambles.

In addition to the supersized Joshua Tree yucca, there are the smaller Mojave yuccas.  They were used by local Indians for making baskets.  They were in bloom too.  A great time to visit. 

Mojave yucca in bloom in Hidden Valley, within Joshua Tree National Park. Pinyon pines are in the background.