We spent an afternoon at Joshua Tree National Park. The park is named after the Joshua tree, which is a species of yucca, and is abundant there. And it is yet another beautiful desert landscape.
The park protects 794,000 acres, much of it in the overlap between the Colorado and Mojave deserts. This means that species from each of those desert ecosystems inhabit the park.
The Western half of the park, the Mojave desert habitat, above 3,000 feet, is where the Joshua trees are found. In this half, there is also hedgehog cactus, juniper, prickly pear cactus and black-tailed jackrabbit, desert spiny lizards and desert woodrat.
The Eastern half, the Colorado desert habitat, below 3,000 feet, is part of the much larger Sonoran Desert, where we spent some time this winter in Arizona. Here there is ocotillo, palo verde, brittlebrush, pencil cholla and kit fox, kangaroo rat and zebratail lizard.
The transition zone between both deserts has bighorn sheep, cactus wren, greater roadrunner, Gambel’s quail, desert iguana and desert tortoise. There are rattlesnakes in both deserts, though they are different types.
We spent the afternoon in the Western half of the park, since we wanted to see the Joshua trees. Although we missed the peak desert flowers, there were still some flowering cacti. And the Joshua trees were very cool.
We didn’t see much wildlife, just quail and a few lizards but we did have a chance to watch a beautiful moon rise that evening. It was the night before the full moon, so there was a big, bright lovely moon rising through a slightly hazy sky, no doubt a result of sandstorms the day before.
We stayed until after dusk. The park was pretty quiet, but after dusk it seemed that there was no one there but us. But we spotted a few “astronomers” by the side of the road waiting for the lunar eclipse, which was supposed to take place around midnight.
That night after Hector went to bed I stayed up to watch the lunar eclipse. I wanted to see the “red” moon. But at one in the morning, all I saw was the sun blocking the moon and no red, just a slightly grey tone. So I decided to go to bed. I was looking forward to seeing the full moon the next day over the desert. But it was not to be.
~ Brenda
Lovely pictures. I love the desert. Hope to make it there someday. K
It’s beautiful, I hope you do too.
I missed the lunar eclipse too as a storm was raging then at that time,
Coming from CA Im sad to say we have never been to Joshua Tree National Park. I guess it is always overlook with the more popular ones around. Ill be happy for now to see your beautiful pictures.
Desert looks so dry!!! Great pics and description of course.
I saw t he eclipse from Miami and it was spectacular!!! Bright red and a clear, cloudless sky!
Love Joshua Tree desert! I set my alarm for the lunar eclipse and did see the brick red hue. I plan to post a pic of it in my next post about Moab Utah. Your photos are fabulous as always!
Can’t wait to see the “red moon”. We’ll come back to Joshua Tree another time.
Brenda
Thanks for sharing all those amazingly gorgeous photos of the full moon with the desert landscape:) The coloring is beautiful.
We love the full and the almost full moon.
Love the moon and desert together! Beautiful post you two. We stayed out to watch the eclipse and although we feel asleep on and off throughout, it was a nice spectacle.
We do too! Your eclipse evening sounds romantic.
Enjoyed this share… love the photos…
Thanks!