Adventure at Joshua Tree National Park, Part 2

The cacti began blooming a week or two before our arrival.

           Traveling through Joshua Tree was so interesting because the landscape changes so quickly.  Joshua trees don't inhabit every corner of the park- the western side is actually where the majority of the trees grow.  You can travel several places within the park and never see one.  But, since they're so awesome and bizarre, we spent a lot of time searching them out.  In doing so, we didn't realize there were other wonders of plant life just waiting for us to discover them.  So, on our way across the park to Mastodon Peak, we toured the cholla cactus gardens.

Kristyn and Anna with the cholla.

The cholla cactus gardens.

The cholla cactus gardens were part of a nice little guided tour- you pick up a brochure at the beginning, it guides you through 15 or so numbered signs and briefly describes each one.  It was very busy and there were so many people walking through the narrow paths.  They must have been very grateful that the crazy wind and snow had disappeared, too.  Cholla actually represent over 20 species of cacti, but most of what we were walking through in the garden were referred to as Teddy Bear cholla, because (from VERY far away, I suppose) the arms look like those of your favorite cuddly (giant prickly-spined) teddy bear, or Jumping cholla, as their arms fall off and eventually attach to another creature, allowing them to germinate.  I think.  I could be wrong.  Please don't look to me as your all-knowing cacti expert.  These cholla have tiny, microscopic barbs on each spine, which I assume would be torture to remove from your skin.  

          After taking in our fair share of cactus wonders, we hopped back in the car and continued to the trails that would lead us to Mastadon Peak.  At this point, it was a dry, burning 80 degrees, and I was still wearing two pairs of long underwear, two fleece jackets, and the nerdiest-of-nerdy hiking socks on the planet.  Needless to say, it was a big change from the weather we were dealing with the night before.  We quickly un-layered and then headed off to walk through sand for quite some time.  But it wasn't just sand, and it definitely wasn't the stereotypical desert you would see in a movie (read: only point of reference, having never technically walked through a desert).  There were so many wildflowers.  SO MANY.  It was wildflower season, and apparently thousands of flower enthusiasts flock to Joshua Tree around the end of March and early April to see them.   They were beautiful and so different from the wildflowers we were all used to in Ohio.  This was also the point in the trip where I decided to start shooting film, so unfortunately, I don't have images of these mysterious wildflowers right now.  I was hiking with more than one camera out, but once boulders began to exist, I put one away so I wouldn't whack it on something whilst trying to prove my status as a legitimate outdoors-person.  As soon as they're processed and the magical photo lab in Pasadena calls me, I'll scan them for your viewing pleasure.

The view from atop Mastodon Peak.  You can actually see all the way to the bizarre Salton Sea.

            Mastadon Peak was a very different hike than Ryan Mountain.  The rock formations and surrounding landscape were nothing like we had seen before, and we had only traveled 30 miles.  We eventually found the abandoned Mastodon Mine (a gold mine) near the top of the mountain.  It had 80 thousand signs telling hikers they would die if they even thought about going down the mine shaft, but the opening to the mine itself was only covered by a flimsy-looking grate that was slightly open on one side.  Sorry, this awesome hypothetical photograph will be brought to you by the power of film in a few days.  Looking down into the dark tunnel, I couldn't help but think of every X-Files episode that had ever been set in the southwestern United States.  Was this the entrance to a secret alien-hoarding facility?  The home of a fungus that uses its hallucinatory properties to swallow prey whole?  Scully?  Mulder?  MULDER?  I half- expected (half-hoped) to see David Duchovny, an over-sized cell phone, and his hair circa 1995 emerge from the tiny opening.  So dreamy.

The view from the opposite side of Mastodon Peak.

Reaching the top of Mastadon Peak was much more difficult and terrifying than I had expected.  The last portion of the hike was so steep and the openings were so narrow,  I just don't understand how those mastodons did it.

Get it?

I could be wrong, though.  There may have very well been some extremely nimble mastodons.

I'm not afraid of heights, I'm just afraid of the feeling of not being able to get back down from the top.  

Anna is so tiny standing under the giant palms.

We walked through an actual oasis at the end of the trail.  It was not a mirage!  

Jokes.  Again.

Oases in Joshua Tree occur on fault lines, where groundwater is able to reach the surface easily, creating the perfect conditions for green plant life and water in an otherwise very dry place.  There are several fault lines that zig zag through and around the park, so check out this National Park Service map of Joshua Tree fault lines.  Alright, so I guess if you put it that way, it doesn't sound that cool.  But it is- pinky swear!

Overall, it was an extremely successful trip: I have a million photographs to wade through, I willingly ate tepid Chef Boyardee ravioli with the plastic spoon I took from Starbucks, and Anna, Kristyn, and I definitely bonded (if only because no one was allowed to go to the bathroom by themselves at night).  I can't wait to head back to Joshua Tree and I hope that, someday soon, Yosemite will welcome us with open, snow-less, arms.