Joshua Tree National Park

I traveled south to Joshua Tree National Park the last weekend in February.  My dear friend from Cape Hatteras, Katie, came with me.  It was a delightful weekend.  I absolutely fell in love with this park!

The necessary stop at the entrance sign.  The day was beautiful.

We arrived early and staked out a campsite.  There were a lot of large rocks and boulders at our site which came in very handy.  The wind picked up during the day and by evening, I was glad my tent was somewhat sheltered; otherwise I might have blown away.

As we were driving to the trailhead for our first hike, we came across this sign.  We simply had to stop.

Turns out it's simply a place to climb.  I had heard for a while Joshua Tree was a popular place for climbing and we saw quite of few folks walking around with either ropes or crash pads.

I was able to get tickets to take the ranger tour of Keys Ranch.  Bill Keys was a cohort of Death Valley Scotty and I was curious to see Keys's set-up.

If I were to sum up the Keys Ranch in one word it would be junkyard.  Talk about hording...he had everything.  Including an old Ford as an additional chicken coop.  It makes sense, when you live in isolated places to hang on to things, yes, but the amount and variety Keys had was overwhelming.

The view from the backyard is definitely worth it.  This part of the country is beautiful.

Being high desert, there is a lot of cactus and all different varieties.  I found this sign particularly interesting.  

Barrel Cactus.

There is a large cholla (choy-ya) field in the park.  We hit this area right before sunset which made it all the more magical.  Fields of cactus!

Cholla close up.  Most were about waist high.

I have no idea what type of succulent this is but I thought it quite lovely.

After a cold and very windy night, we did a bit more exploring and hiking.  I found this lovely rock perfectly formed for relaxing.  (Don't judge the outfit, it was really, really cold.)

Beautiful views of the park.

Of course, if you go to Joshua Tree National Park, you're going to see Joshua Trees!  I love these guys.  They are not technically trees, but part of the yucca family.

Don't ask how many pictures I took of me impersonating a Joshua Tree.

Beautiful park with beautiful views.  A place I will definitely visit again.