Mojave Desert section of Joshua Tree National Park

There was no real boundary line between the Colorado and the Mojave Deserts, just a gradual change in elevation and new plants began to dominate the landscape as I drove on. Joshua Trees were  just everywhere and the place reminded me a little of Saguaro National Park except the dominate tree was Joshua instead of Saguaro.  There were also a lot of Mojave yuccas. Actually Joshua Trees aren’t trees at all but a species of yucca.  When they are small they look similar except Mojave yucca always had splinter-like threads on the edges of its spine-tipped leaves as seen below.

See how a Joshua Tree doesn’t have those. It has a cleaner look.  

I found one beginning to bloom.

 

 

Boulders also were everywhere in this part of the part and became the dominate feature. 

 

Split rock was the name of one of the picnic areas;

besides the split rock it also had a rock that reminded me of a Henry Moore sculpture.

As I was leaving that group of rocks a coyote crossed the road and I slammed on my breaks to take a photo.

Another popular rock was Skull Rock.

I was surprised to see a female Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum) at one of the oasis.

 

 

Joshua Tree National Park

 

The Bajada Nature Trail was my first stop in Joshua Tree National Park.  It was a short trail but I learned the basics of the desert and a few more plant names.  A bajada is a slope at a mountain’s base formed from eroded sand and gravel.  They usually have more moisture and therefore more variety of plants and animals in the dry wash area such as this one.

I found my first Joshua Tree National Park  lizard here.  I believe it is a Southern Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus).  I found many more of them later on in the park.  In fact I began to search them out.

My next stop was the Cottonwood Visitor Center and a hike down to Cottonwood Spring

 where I spotted this Western Fence Lizards.

Cahuilla Indians used these springs as evidenced by the mortars in the granite rock. The sign along the trail read “Cahuillas believed that everything in their world contained a spirit and that all spirits deserved respect. When picking an edible plant, they would quietly pray to its spirit. The prayers would include an explanation of why the plant was being picked and an apology for using it. Whenever possible, only a part of a plant was taken. The Cahuillas would try to leave behind enough seeds so that the plant could reproduce. Their respectful attitude toward other forms of life enable them to live here with little negative impact on their environment. “   I don’t pick desert plants for food but I have had a long time habit of thanking the creatures I photograph for their patience and apologize for scaring them.  I also try to talk to them while taking the photo, it kind of sooths and steadies me and hopefully them as well. Below are a couple of the mortar holes.

I was pleasantly surprised to find these lichens growing on the shady side of one of the granite boulders. My friend Jane will appreciate these.

In another direction along a dry wash I came across these two egg cases. I have no idea what they are and if anyone knows please leave a comment. They two were found on granite rock about waist high.

 

Turkey Flats was my next roadside stop.

 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement, searched and found a Common Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana), the most beautiful lizard I found so far. West Virginia does not have a lot of lizards so these were all new to me and a little easier to chase down than a salamander.

I was below 3,000 in the eastern end of the park within the Colorado Desert, a subdivision of the Sonoran Desert that I visited while in Tucson.  It is characterized by Ocotillo, Brittlebush, and Creosote, much like Anza-Borrego State Park.  Driving closer to the transition to the Mojave Desert in the western section of the park came to the Cholla Cactus Garden.  They were everywhere and had begun to bloom.

“What you come to see on the surface is not what you come to know…the desert is time, exposed time, geologic time. One needs time in the desert to see.” ---Terry Tempest Williams