Joshua Tree National Park

While traveling from Arizona to California, we stayed in Cathedral City, California. It’s not far from Indio. For some reason, we thought we had seen Joshua Tree National Park before. The fact was, we hadn’t.

South entrance from Interstate Highway 10.

Of course, my first goal was to get my National Parks Passport book stamped at the visitors’ center. We entered the park from the south entrance from Hwy 10 and stopped at the Cottonwood Visitor Center.

Lost Palms Oasis

Not far from the visitors’ center was a picnic area where we stopped and had our lunch. Near there was Lost Palms Oasis, the largest grove of California fan palms in the park. These huge bearded trees thrive due to a constant water supply from Cottonwood Spring.

California fan palms in Lost Palms Oasis

From there, we worked our way northwards through the park. We saw very few Joshua trees at first. The temperatures in the desert in early May were quite pleasant since we were climbing in elevation the whole time.

The road is about a 30 mile drive, but we made several stops along the way to learn about the desert plants and geology. This alluvial fan coming is a common sight where the mountains meet the desert floor. Material from the mountains is washed down by streams during rains and flash floods. As the water slows, sediment gets deposited from the streams.

Alluvial fan

The alluvial fan gets more moisture from runoff to support more plants like the ocotillo and chollas. Believe it or not, ocotillos are more closely related to blueberries and tea plants than cactus plants!

Ocotillo plant

Our next stop was the cholla garden. I’ve never seen so many chollas in one place! There were warning signs telling tourists not to get too close. Chollas are also known as “jumping cactus” because if you happen to brush up against one, it will stick to you.

Joshua trees are a type of yucca plant. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. I thought at first these yucca plants were baby Joshua trees. But they are yuccas.

Spanish Dagger yucca plant

The next photo shows the difference between a yucca and a Joshua tree. It’s pretty easy to tell when they’re this big and side by side.

It was late spring when we visited, but there were plenty of desert flowering plants.

Flowering Blue Palo Verde
Flowering Desert Globe Mallow
Flowering Prickly Pear Cactus

Along our route was this interesting rock formation called “Skull Rock.” Joshua Tree National Park has a variety of rock formations. This is a popular one for tourists.

Skull Rock

As we got further and further into the park, we began to see huge Joshua trees. I’ve seen many Joshua trees in my lifetime, but these were the biggest I’ve ever seen.

The trunks of these trees were like the size of an oak tree, and had many “arms.”

Large Joshua Trees

Another stop along our route was this “balancing rock” formation. It looked like it could topple down at any time.

Balancing Rock

Our last stop in the park was Keys View where we could look out over the whole Coachella Valley. I didn’t know this, but the San Andreas Fault line runs right down the middle of this valley.

Keys View of Coachella Valley

At over 5,000 feet in elevation, we enjoyed the cool breezes as the day continued to warm up.

Overlooking Coachella Valley

Joshua Tree National Park is worth seeing. The variety of desert plants and animals that can withstand the extreme temperatures of desert weather is a testament to God’s marvelous creation.

Twisted tree at Keys View

“The wilderness and the desert will rejoice,
And the desert will shout for joy and blossom.” Isaiah 35:1a

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Mountains National Park Entrance

Created in 1966, Guadalupe Mountains National Park contains the highest point in the state of Texas, Guadalupe Peak (8,751′). The park is located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, and just a few miles across the Texas border. In the western “arm” of Texas, this less known national park is well-known for its clean air.

The views of mountains in Guadalupe Mountains National Park with a zoom lens

The Park is intentionally inaccessible. It was created during a time when the environmental movement was in full swing. Ninety-five percent of the park is wilderness. From the eastern border of the park where we were, there are only three short roads into the park. If you like to hike, however, there are numerous trails throughout. For us old people, we had to be content with viewing the mountains from a distance.

There are roads around the outside of the park with various viewpoints. If we had driven several hours more, we might have been able to see more, but we just didn’t have the time.

Like Yosemite National Park, this park also has an “El Capitan.” It is a 1,000′ high limestone cliff. It is visible from the highway as you drive further south. However, we did not go that far.

The wildflowers and cactus were in bloom and we enjoyed seeing the beauty of the desert in bloom.

We visited the historic Frijole Ranch, but the museum was closed. It is only open seasonally when staff or volunteers are available. There was a spring outside the ranch house that flows continually at 5 gallons per minute. A spring house covers the opening and the water flows in a channel through the courtyard.

Frijole Ranch

Outside the Visitors’ Center, we were fascinated with the yucca plants in various states of bloom. The yucca is related to the agave plant.

Yucca plants in early bloom
Close up of yucca blooms

Indians called yucca “soap weed.” The roots were used for washing. Other parts of the plant were used for medicine and food. The fibers were used for many things and the seeds were used for tea or dried for making beads.

Yucca plants with mature flowers
Mature flowers of the yucca plant

And we also saw century plants in bloom. Century plants and yucca plants look similar, but the century plants have “branches” with blooms on the ends.

Century Plant in bloom

Later in the afternoon, the sun finally came out and lit up the mountains.

In the early afternoon, we headed back to our campground. On the way, we were going to pass Carlsbad Caverns National Park, so we decided to stop. We were too late to go on a cave tour, but we looked at the exhibits in the Visitors’ Center. I got my National Parks Passport Book stamped since we had already visited years ago.

The five mile drive into the park was reason enough to visit. The cacti were in bloom everywhere. On our way out of the park, I got a few photos of the blooms. Right at the entrance a huge cholla cactus was in bloom.

This is the view from the Visitors’ Center at Carlsbad Cavers NP. I didn’t remember this from our visit years ago, but it is a beautiful view.

View from Carlsbad Caverns National Park Visitor Center in New Mexico.

More wildflowers decorated the roadside.

I’ve never seen such an abundance of prickly pear cacti, many with bright yellow blooms.

Prickly pear cactus
Bloom of prickly pear cactus

I kept seeing bright pink patches from the rocks on the cliffs. Stopping to check it out, I discovered they were hedgehog cacti in bloom.

Hedgehog cacti on cliffside
Hedgehog cactus
Hedgehog cactus
Hedgehog cactus

Ray was curious about the “green chili peppers” he saw on some of the yucca. I zoomed in and got these photos. The chili peppers are really seed pods of the yucca plant. These are yet another stage of the yucca plant.

Yucca seed pods
Yucca seed pods

Yucca plants take many years to grow.

Yucca plant

Our Escapees park had some beautiful specimens of yucca and ocotillo.

Yucca plant in bloom at Escapees campground
Yucca flowers close up.
Ocotillo in bloom

I was somewhat disappointed in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. However, it has been years since I have seen Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I would love to go back and re-visit it again. And, who knows, I might just give Guadalupe Mountains National Park another try also.