By Patricia H. Kushlis
I recently returned from a ten day drive across the southern most part of America’s Southwest with stops in Tucson, Arizona; Imperial, California and the California-Mexican border; the Joshua Tree National Park; Los Osos, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Zion National Park and finally Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly before returning to Albuquerque.
My primary goal was to take my mom’s ashes to California for scattering over the Pacific near San Luis Obispo where she had lived for over 20 years before moving to New Mexico so that I could help her through her final years. She was nearly 100 when she died – on October 26, 2008 or St. Demetrios Day, and her ashes are to be scattered just a couple of days after what would have been her 100th birthday. But this sad occasion also gave us a chance to visit places we had never been and others we had not visited recently when the temperatures were still moderate and wildflowers beginning to bloom.
We chose the roundabout route to the Central Coast for several reasons, ones my mother – a former biology teacher - would likely have approved: First, we were sick of driving the I-40 wall-to-wall cross-country truck corridor which despite the recession is still filled with far too many, Paul Bunyan-sized behemoths driven too fast racing against the clock and each other. And second, we wanted to visit a friend in Imperial who had offered to take us across the border to Mexicali and who had also told us about the Joshua Tree National Park – a great expanse of desert and cacti – north and east of Palm Springs.
Joshua Tree National Park: At the juncture of the Mojave and Coloradan Deserts
I’ll leave the border crossing and THE FENCE for a stand alone post and reserve this one for a few – mostly photographic - impressions of the juncture of the Mojave and Coloradan Deserts which combined represent two different climatic zones and make up the Joshua Tree National Park.
The stately, tall Joshua Trees (photo above) – a variety of the yucca - grow throughout the Mojave Desert. Whereas the Ocotillo (related to the thistle according to my dictionary) (photo right) and Cholla cacti are found on the Colorado Desert’s southern slopes.
Don't tempt the "Jumping" Cholla
The smaller Cholla (photo left) love the south side of sandy mountains: this choice of habitat has all to do with water and drainage. These clingy cacti don’t like direct water and their roots don’t fare well in soggy soil – according to notes on a sign in the park by the US National Park Service. One of the Park’s highlights is a walk through the Cholla Garden which in spring is a mini-forest of new light green growth with yellow and pink blossoms.
The Cholla dominate the Cholla Garden – as one might expect from the name – but other cacti also reside there including the Beavertail cactus with its spectacular and unmistakable cerise blossoms in early spring. (photo right).
The Cholla are also called “jumping" cacti because they behave like Velcro – their miniscule needles “jump out” and stick to everything and everybody they touch: The Park Service warns visitors to keep paws off and clothing away. The problem is that the Cholla – unlike Velcro – can’t be unzipped once attached and there’s always someone who doesn’t believe the Park Service warnings.
They should.
Sure enough. We came upon a young man who evidently couldn't read or more likely had decided to tempt fate - sitting on his rear in the middle of the path trying to remove the plethora of Cholla spines that had latched onto the sides and bottom of his tennis shoe. He was still sitting in the same position attempting to remove the spines when we left.
The much larger and more prolific Joshua Trees are apparently less particular in their choices of residence than the smaller Cholla. Or, maybe that’s just my impression because we crossed more Joshua Tree territory on our trip.
The Joshuas must also be less deadly for two-legged-tennis-shoe-wearing predators. We saw forests of them all through the deserts of California and Nevada although they looked healthier and happier in their namesake National Park than anywhere else. They obviously recognize a protected habitat when they encounter one.
Had land developers rather than conservationists had their way when the Joshua Tree National Park was established – first as a National Monument in the 1936 under FDR then as a National Park in 1994 under Clinton, this arid 794,000 acres of spiny plants, slithery creatures and unique rock formations (photo left) would likely as not have become yet another tentacle of an ever expanding and out of control Los Angeles.
Photos by Patricia H. Kushlis, April 7, 2009.