Howdy, Trailblazing Wandertog Friends!
Let’s get you geared up for a pretty little expedition into the heart of Joshua Tree National Park, where the Mojave and Colorado Deserts converge, creating a sprawling geological playground. Lots of beautiful nature and rocks (- OH the rocks! We love rocks!) …all waiting to be explored.
Joshua Tree National Park
Mojave and Colorado Collide
Yup, Joshua Tree National Park is where these two desert ecosystems collide, showcasing a wide array of plants and critters! Like the wood rats. I personally did not see a single one but there were signs and indications they live all around the area… But lets not discuss rats (unless we are talking about my favorite rat, Remy, from Ratatouille, but that a different blog post). Can we talk about the the absolutely gorgeous Cholla Cactus Garden? We arrived here just as the sun was setting behind the mountains. All the Cholla cactus looked fuzzy! (they are not fuzzy they are definitely spikey and pokey, trust me) and were glowing from being back lit by the strong sunshine.
That was the moment we got excited and jumped out of the van scrambling to grab cameras and get in there among them. We were NOT the only folks bathing in the glowing light. There were many people wandering around and we did our best to take images without them in the background. But let’s face it people, that is what PhotoShop is best at, right? Removing unwanted bits and pieces from our images so we can craft our visions. You know you all do it too!
The Cholla Cactus Gardens: It’s a Prickly Affair (see what I did there?) Don’t they look FUZZY!?!
Under the Stars and Amongst Rocks
The night sky over Joshua Tree is nothing short of spectacular – just a canvas of stars that'll have you gazing for hours. How do I know this? well you see - I was so busy looking up I forgot to take the camera out. SO - I have no evidence to make my point, so you’ll just have to take my word for it… We settled down and camped out amidst the colossal rocks in the aptly named Jumbo Rock Campground. Here is where we got the feeling we were modern-day cave persons, or maybe one of the Flintstones! It was a very Flintstones feeling. The rocks surrounding us are shaped by the harshest winds and some very sporadic rain. The next morning we trekked over to Skull Rock. Why is it called Skull rock you may wonder?
Skull Rock Shenanigans
Have you seen Skull Rock? It a very surreal geological feature that looks like a warped, big nosed, beast - how did nature create such a creature???
Speaking of rocks…the urge to climb every boulder became a bit of a mission for us. Forget magic and grandeur of the distant landscape; it's all about the primal joy of conquering as many rock formations as you can! Feeling like cave people, we scaled and scrambled, reveling in the simple pleasure of connecting with the geological wonders around us.. Feeling like we could conquer every rock in sight –which is just childish, idiotic, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, ridiculous or simply just stupid - especially since I had that falling off a rock incident at City of Rocks state parks last April—- but, it really felt like a jungle gym out there. And even though we are not technical rock climbers. (We did see plenty of those all around us.) We had just kept going and going!! It was FUN!!!
Come Join the Rock-Hopping Brigade!
Enough talk about all this fun, maybe it's time to kick up some dust and explore Joshua Tree National Park for yourself?!? Swap the office for the enchantment and the thrill of navigating rocky terrain, feeling like a cave person, and maybe, just maybe, you too can climb every rock in sight. It's an earthy adventure that's only a little less about wonder and more about getting your hands (and possibly knees) all scrapped up and just a little dirty…
Want to see more images? Join us Wandertogs as we uncover the wild side of nature, one rock at a time. Our images from Joshua Tree can be found here: Joshua Tree
Stay tuned for more tales of our other escapades, behind-the-scenes silliness, and visuals that capture the unfiltered joy of our travel love affair.
Thank you for being part of the Wandertogs community. Let's continue to explore, climb, and laugh our way through the great outdoors.
Happy trails,
Scott and Donna
Wandertogs Founders and Rock-Hopping Enthusiasts