(It's such a favorite place that Tessie, had she been a boy, would likely have been named Joshua.)
Three hours of driving brought us to one of the park's Visitor Centers, where Tessie was finally able to add another stamp to her National Parks Passport. It seems we have been remiss as parents. We bought her the thing just after she was born, but this trip added only her second and third stamps. She'll get more stamps next month. I promise.
The Joshua Tree Visitor Center is not so large. It's really just a place to pay fees and buy souvenirs, so after acquiring the all-important stamp we drove onward into the park to our first stop, the Barker Dam Nature Hike.
It seems that roughly a hundred years ago, this area was considered if not prime, at least decent grazing land for cattle. Several ranches were established in the park, and bands of rustlers even used the area's intricate rock formations as hideouts. Rainfall levels are now much lower than they once were, and the cattlemen left the area in the 1940s.
[Insert anthropogenic global warming disclaimer here]
Before they left, the ranchers built dams, or "tanks," to collect and store rainwater. The dams still remain, but it is uncommon to see much water in them. We did have some significant rainfall recently in southern California, so we did expect to see more water than usual behind the dam. We weren't expecting this much, though:
Beyond the dam, the area showed many of the Mojave Desert's characteristics: the monzogranite rock formations, the scrub oaks, cholla and other varieties of cactus, yucca plants and, of course, joshua trees. Tessie found it a wonderful playground, but we had to remain on guard to protect her from the desert's pointier plants.
It's only a 1.3 mile loop trail, but between Tessie's natural curiosity and my need to take pictures, we spent a couple of hours on the Barker Dam trail. Eventually we headed off to Keys View to take in the sunset. After a day in the sun, the desert reminded us of how cold it can get at night.
We were expecting it to be cold at night, so we decided to forgo camping on this excursion and instead opted for hotels. After sunset we left the park to go find our lodging in the bustling desert metropolis of Twentynine Palms, which, owing to its resemblance to Iraq, is home of the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center, or MCAGCC for short.
There are not a lot of fine dining options available in the vicinity of Twentynine Palms; perhaps they just can't compete with the gustatory satisfaction provided by mess halls and MREs. The one promising-looking option had a line out the door, so we instead opted for Santana's, a fast-food Mexican place. Whatever the food lacked in quality was more than made up for by the interior decoration. (To say nothing of the complimentary reading material.)
We headed back into the park the next day to hike a different nature trail, this time the Indian Cove Nature Walk. In contrast with the crowds at Barker Dam, this trail we had almost to ourselves. It's only a 0.6 mile loop trail, but we made it take all morning, first by missing the trail marker and wandering for a while in totally the wrong area, then by letting Tessie lead us by following the trail marker arrows.
We saw lots of birds and a few lizards, and Tessie stopped to investigate each and every anthill. The trail also took us past some of the park's signature rock formations.
We went from there to another Visitor Center, this time a slightly larger one with another nature trail just behind it. Here we saw rabbits, Gambel's quail and other birds, and more ants. Tessie is fascinated by ants.
Back in the car, we drove south to exit the park, stopping briefly at an ocotillo patch. Ocotillo are a Colorado desert plant, so seeing them meant we'd left the Mojave behind and crossed into the park's other desert. Tessie was wiped out by this point, so she napped in the car while we got out and enjoyed the cooler air of the lower elevations.
We continued to the Cottonwood Springs Oasis near the southern entrance to the park and arrived there just ahead of sundown. The oasis formed around a spring that trickles out through the rocks to feed a large stand of palm and cottonwood trees. The area was well known by native Americans, who wore deep holes in the granite rocks by grinding grains with stones.
As the sun was setting, we didn't spend much time there, but did stay long enough to see several bats come out of their homes to begin feeding in the twilight. The bats showed no fear of us and often passed within feet of us as we stood watching. I tried a few photographs, but the low light combined with the twisting, fluttering, almost chaotic flight of the bats meant my efforts were unsuccessful. Here's the best shot I got:
