Oh, wow!! If you ever get a chance to drive through Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California, you will be so happy that you did. The park sits in the desert and the temperature on the day I visited (July) was 113 degrees. The terrain changes as you pass from the lower Colorado Desert in the south to the higher elevation Mojave Desert in the north.
Here are pictures taken in the area called the cactus garden. There is a quarter mile walking path passing through the natural garden. Avoid touching the cactus. The may look soft and fluffy but they are sharp and painful to remove if they poke you.
This group of rocks looks like the head of a sleeping man. It is a naturally formed rock hill with a short hiking trail winding beneath it.
The vegetation looks very scrubby but each plant grows exactly where it should within the desert it is located in and is an important part of the desert ecosystem. There is a huge wash area running through the lower park and a sudden storm can cause immediate flooding. The water just rolls off of the rock mountains and flows freely in this area.
Joshua Tree NP is operated by the National Park Service. Please, go! See the beauty for yourself. Bring lots of drinking water and be sure your car is gassed up. It takes a couple of hours to drive through the park--longer if you stop and enjoy the scenery.
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