We left Casa Grande, AZ and didn't know how far we'd go, but ended up at Joshua Tree National Park, about an hour outside of Palm Springs. We stayed for 4 nights and had a great time. It was nice to be able to set up our home and actually stay in one place for a while.
The park this time of year is not very busy and the weather was great with a light breeze so it never did get too hot. We hiked the Mastodon trail to Cottonwood Springs and Matt even climbed to the top of Mastodon Peak (great views, he said) and we toured the entire park. Two deserts reside within the park limits: Mojave and Colorado. The Mojave is a higher desert where the Joshua Trees thrive and the Colorado is the lower elevation where there are lots of flowering cacti (ochillo and cholla are my favorite with the orange and yellow buds) and wash areas where, when/if it rains, the area is flooded and the ground is actually quiet green at times.
We took some really cool off-road trails with the truck and one ended up taking us up and up for 3 hours and then into a canyon and then dropped us off at a Rest Area off the freeway. Do you ever see those signs posted at Rest Areas that say, "Federal Land-Do Not Enter" and there is a gate that opens? Well, that is where we came out. We saw views of the Salton Sea, too.
We saw our 2nd Desert Tortoise (1st one I saw in Las Vegas) and 2 different kinds of lizards (but MANY of them!) and that snake. What is that snake anyway? Anyone know? We stayed back - DUH - but got some good shots with the zoom lens (again - DUH). Let us know if you have an answer.
The blimp picture is what Matt saw from our campsite. It made me think of why so many see UFO's around here... see below and tell me what you think.
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