Chasing the Light - Joshua Tree National Park — Abandoned Places, Gold Rush & Route 66 Travel Photography

It was late afternoon on the eve of the Super Flower Blood Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse (that sounds confusing, but I’m gonna stick with it), when I pulled onto the turnoff for the Live Oak Picnic area. Moonrise would occur around 7:30 pm, just about the same time as the sun would set. The full effect of the blood moon eclipse would be a little after 9:00 pm. My plan was to stick around to see the moon rise and maybe get a picture, and then watch the eclipse process. But before that would happen, there were a couple hours to fill. What to do, what to do…..

I chose to wander about the rocks and take pictures of Lego minifigures I had happened to bring along……

“Yes, Father. I shall become a bat.”

When I was done playing, the golden hour was settling in and turning the rocks a warm, gorgeous color that couldn’t be resisted. So I headed out from the end of the parking area where the most picnic tables are, towards the area’s namesake Live Oak. Here’s what I saw.

This has become one of my favorite formations in the area, something about those chunks of rock laying all around that look like they were blasted off the wall behind them by a giant hammer. Or maybe what’s left of a giant’s skeleton.

and then farther away

Some great clouds this afternoon.

This view is looking west at the formations across the street from Live Oak. If you venture over there, you may find Spooky Hollow.

The Land of Pointy Things

The dikes throughout this clump are amazing. I also liked the little yellow flowers on the creosote, the light would sometimes catch them just right.

And there it is, the Live Oak. Fortuitously growing in a wash that gets a lot of runoff during any periods of rain. I love taking pictures of this tree. If you’re in the area and have about an hour, hike down the wash. You’ll pass by two dams built by local cattle ranchers way back when cattle roamed the land. And should you happen to continue past Ivanpah Dam (the second one), you may find yet a third dam (Lower Ivanpah dam) taking advantage of this wash. It takes a little effort to get to.

The backside of oak.

After visiting with Live Oak, I headed back to my car, passing by this guy. Could it be a future skull rock? It was kind of creepy. At a turnout maybe a mile or so east, I pulled over and headed out to where I wanted to wait for the moon show.

There’s a pretty famous Juniper and Obelisk combo in the Jumbo Rocks campground. I found another out here. Maybe not quite as spectacular.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, but was actually about 20 minutes, the sun slipped behind the horizon and soon the moon would be visible.

Okay, for really great pictures of the moon and stars, you need a really good camera. I’m experimenting with only using my iPhone 13 pro on explorations this year, so have concluded I won’t get any amazing night sky shots. Here’s one of the moon just coming into view.

Not too bad overall. I stuck around till the eclipse was complete, which was pretty cool, but didn’t get a usable picture to post. Trade-offs. I headed back to the highway, twenty minutes or so away. In the dark, with strange noises all around me. Which turned out to be the collar of my shirt rubbing against the strap of my pack. 😳

I had better luck with a light trail photo than an eclipsed moon shot. But wouldn’t you know, just when you want traffic, there was hardly a car on the road.

If you’re still reading, thanks for coming along on the trip. Feel free to leave a comment below.

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