Joshua Tree National Park

To live in the west is to be constantly surrounded by mountains. Everywhere I have gone so far there has been mountain range after mountain range. I am shocked at how much of California is either mountains or deserts, how do they fit so many people in here? Looking at the map I see this going to continue at least until Texas, after that I expect to enter flatland. I wonder how much the daily presence or absence of mountains effects ones world view. For me I experience a sense of sublime wonder when surrounded by mountains, forcibly reminded of forces much greater than myself. I wouldn't want to try living without them.

While it is winter, and most animals are hibernating or inactive right now, I have seen some cool animals on this trip. My list so far includes: Black-Tailed Deer, Elephant Seals, Sea Otters, a Turkey Vulture, Pelicans, Harbor Seals, Cormorants, Red-Tailed Hawks, Coyotes, a Road Runner, and a covey of Quail. The Turkey Vulture was probably the coolest; a huge black bird with a bald read head riding the thermals along the cliff-face, over the highway, along the rugged Big Sur coastline. As I drove along the mountainside, 500 ft above the surf below, the huge bird suddenly coasted up from below the road bed and soared along the highway, lifting over ridges and dipping into ravines for about a quarter of a mile of driving.

Today I went through the Mojave National Preserve, drove along Route 66 for a while, and then passed through the Joshua Tree National Park. Only one road was just recently opened in Joshua Tree due to the 14 inches of snow they had gotten during the storm. Much of more famous parts of the park were in the closed area but I was able to access the Colorado Desert for the first time. The Mojave, characterized by the Joshua Trees, is a higher elevation desert that includes Death Valley. The Colorado is a hotter, lower desert that starts in J.T.N.P. and extends south into Mexico, where it is known as the Sonoran Desert. The Colorado has a whole different set of flora including: Cholla Cactus, Barrell Cactus, Jojoba, Mesquite, Creosote, Smoke Trees, and Octillo trees.
I did some great nature hikes today and ended with a climb to Mastodon Peak (3371 ft) for a great look around the valley. I tried to go to the Patton Museum to see all of the World War II tanks they have preserved there but was too late to get in. I ended in Blythe, CA, right on the border of Arizona. Tomorrow morning I say goodbye to California!