Day Twenty-three – A Dr. Seuss Forest!


“Oh, the places you’ll go and the things you’ll see...” We are pretty certain that Dr. Seuss paid a visit to the Joshua Tree National Park before illustrating his books.

Located in southeastern California, we saw this park on the map. Since neither of us knew what a Joshua Tree was, we thought we’d pop into the park for a visit. This national park turned out to be nothing like we expected. The word “forest” has a different connotation for Pacific Northwesterners. It was an arid desert habitat with interesting mountains and rocks.




Our first stop was to Oasis Springs. A short walk brought us to towering palm trees nestled in a small rocky canyon. These trees presented quite a different canopy than we are used to.




Continuing on through the park, we noticed changes in the desert. Sometimes there were more of one type of cactus or another. And then when we got to a summit, we saw them. The Joshua Trees! They are a strange looking tree which seemed like a cross between a palm tree and a saguaro cactus with fluffy tufts at the top and at the ends of their arms. 

Later, we found out that these trees are endangered. They require specific conditions to thrive. Like many desert plants they grow very slowly, but the trees can live for several hundred years and grow to heights of 70 feet. 


Another interesting thing about this national park are the rock formations. Scattered throughout the park are giant granite balls, knobs, blobs, and ridges. 




We stayed in a campsite at the Belle campground which was surrounded by the granite formations. This site made for a secluded desert location with mountains to the west and cream-colored granite blocks at our backs.

We had a peaceful evening watching the desert sun disappear behind the mountains to be replaced by white twinkling stars in an indigo sky. This was a great last stop before we rolled on north to Wood's Prairie.

“Oh, the places we’ve gone” and so many more to see, but we’ll save them for another trip.


Total miles travelled during our ramble through the desert southwest - 4,041 miles

Longest travel day - 408 miles (Echo Ridge, OR - Burley, ID)

Shortest travel day - 40 miles (Cave Creek, AZ - Cottonwood, AZ)


Comments

  1. LoriMay 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM

    Fabulous place!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LoriMay 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM

    Nancy, I think you are better than some people who do this for a living!

    ReplyDelete

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