 
| I entered Joshua Tree NP from the northwest. Not too far inside the park the road runs through this Joshua Tree forest.
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| I was very fortunate to be here during April when there were numerous plants flowering throughout the park. This area of the park was populated by joshua trees and stands of large monoliths.
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| Hidden Valley is a 1 mile loop trail through a ring of stone walls sitting in the middle of the the plain. The first of three major sites I enjoyed at the park. Supposedly this area was once a cattle rustler's hideout. If you look closely at the 4th photo, you'll see a rock climber with a white helmet.
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| Hawking sitting on the treetop
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| Lizard on the rock
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| The 2nd major destination of the day was Ryan Mountain. The climb to the 5461 foot summit of is 3 miles round trip with pretty serious elevation gain. I decided to focus on the climb on the way up, so these first pictures are from the summit.
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| A unique opportunity! From the summit of Ryan Mountain, I was able to look down on Hidden Valley inside of which I had just hiked.
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| I really don't look for these opportunities, sometimes they just show up in front of me. This tall joshua tree cast a shadow across my path. It looked to me like the crown of the Statue of Liberty. So...
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| The trip down offered great views of the rocks and plains to the north.
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| It really is amazing that in the desert the plants still find a way to produce some spectacular color.
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| Near the bottom, it was time for a self portrait. The parking area is between the two large rocks.
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| Lizards were everywhere, soaking up the sun.
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| The largest joshua tree I saw
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| Jumbo Rocks campground was impressive. The campsites were nestled between the rocks. Numerous scrambling opportunities and scrambling could keep you busy for hours.
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| The middle of the park is a transition zone between the Mojave and Colorado deserts. The deserts are defined by their individual ecologies. The Colorado was a more familiar looking desert for me... reasonably similar to parts of Texas.
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| In the transition zone is this super dense area of cholla cactus. It's pretty surprising when you first see it, but following the trail through and around it is even more so.
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| An ocotillo, looks spindly from a distance but check out the thorns/spines!
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| One of the park's 4 wheel drive only roads
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| Though I'm no birder, I'll call this a roadrunner because it sort of looks like one and it was, well, running across the road.
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| Cottonwood Spring, where an enormous stand of California fan palms stands. The spring was apparently much more voluminous around 100 years ago when miners used it extensively. The palms were planted by those miners for shade. The flow is still enough to support these trees and the downstream vegetation, with I believe 30 gallons an hour at peak.
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| These cottonwood trees give the area its name. The second photo I assume is a seed of the cottonwood.
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| moonrise
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| Exiting the park, the road descends into the flat plain in the distance. It is easy to visualize that this area may once have been a sea, though I really have no idea.
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