Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve - 4/19/08

I went up to Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday. I went in the Joshua Tree entrance. The flowers were still abundant in that area. There was a nice field of Golden Gilia and Desert Dandelions in one place. The roadsides were colored with yellow Desert Dandelions, orange Desert Globemallow, purple Phacelia, and White Tidy Tips and Desert Pincushion. From time to time, I spotted red Claret Cup Cacti and pink Hedgehog Cacti as well. At the Twentynine Palms side, there were numerous Silver Cholla Cacti as well as Hedgehog Cacti. The flowers were abundant here as well. I was glad I came back!

At the Mojave National Preserve, things were different. The vast amounts of Dune Evening Primrose along the roadsides were gone. Only some patches of Canterbury Bells and Desert Globemallow were left along Kelbaker Road. I did find some Sand Verbena and Dune Evening Primrose up at Kelso Dunes. And a very few Desert Lilies and Sand Verbena at Iron Age Road (off of Amboy Road between Joshua Tree and Amboy). I HAD some pretty nice pictures of Iron Age Road all blooming with Sand Verbena, Primrose and Desert Lilies, but somehow, when I was transfering files to my new computer, the whole file folder of those pictures was lost. I was really bummed! But I managed to get some new pictures, even if they weren't as great.

This upcoming weekend, I will probably stay home. I am off to Vegas on Monday :) Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire are on my list. And maybe next weekend, Sequoia and King's Canyon. Or Big Sur again. Who knows. All I know is that with gas prices the way they are, it is getting more and more expensive to go anywhere. Argh. I hope the gas prices go down soon!!!

I posted pictures below. Click on any for a larger view. You can also view the whole photo album by clicking HERE . Enjoy!