Joshua Tree National Park, California, US

 

Joshua Tree National Park, California, US

 

Joshua Tree National Park: Cyclops and Pee Wee Formations near Hidden Valley Campground during civil twilight before sunrise. The receding fringe of Earth's shadow and the Belt of Venus above it are seen in the background sky, low above the horizon.

 

A panoramic view within the Wonderland of Rocks monzogranite area north of Barker Dam

 

Panorama of the view south from the Keys View in the Little San Bernardino Mountains. Visible landmarks are the Salton Sea (236 ft (72 m) below sea level) at distant left; towards the center, the Santa Rosa Mountains behind Indio, and the San Jacinto Mountains behind Palm Springs; at distant right is the 11,503 ft (3,506 m) San Gorgonio Mountain; the San Andreas Fault is visible in the valley floor.

 

The desert wilderness area in the northeast corner of the park, at the transition zone between the Mojave Desert (background) and the Colorado Desert (foreground)

 

 

Climbing the Old Woman Rock

 

 

Joshua Tree National Park is a national park of the United States in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated as a national park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act. Encompassing a total of 795,156 acres (1,242.4 sq mi; 3,217.9 km2) – slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island – the park includes 429,690 acres (671.4 sq mi; 1,738.9 km2) of designated wilderness. Straddling San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and the lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains traverse the southwest edge of the park.

 

Giant Marbles

 

Joshua Tree National Park, California

Helen Baik runs through Joshua Tree National Park.

Chasing the Light in Joshua Tree National Park

 

Joshua Tree National Park, California

 

Named and best known for a large and distinctive local plant, Joshua Tree National Park is also rife with unique rock formations that look as if someone carefully stacked smooth boulders on top of great monoliths. Was this the work of giants? Gods? Ancient aliens armed with rock tumblers?

No, it turns out good old (very, very old) geology explains it all. Joshua Tree sits right on the cusp of a huge tectonic plate that was shoved upward by an even bigger plate hundreds of millions of years ago. The friction created enough heat to melt rock into magma, which soon cooled and then cracked under pressure. Eons of erosion washed away softer surrounding sediment and rounded the sharp edges of the fractured granite. As they were slowly exposed to fresh air, they settled in place to create curious stone stacks like these.

 

 

Cylindropuntia_chuckwallensis_(chuckwalla_cholla)_in_Joshua_Tree_National_Park

View from Quail Springs Picnic Area in 2022

 

Opuntia_chlorotica_(dollarjoint_pricklypear)_in_Joshua_Tree_National_Park

Dollarjoint pricklypear near Skull Rock in Joshua Tree

 

Cholla Cactus Garden in 2022

Chuckwalla cholla in Joshua Tree

 

A grove of namesake Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park

 

The park on a 2003 Landsat image

 

The sun sets in Joshua Tree National Park.

 

The sky turns shades of pink at sunset

The full moon shines at night and creates a surreal landscape.