Red, White & Blue! (orange, purple & yellow, too) - Joshua Tree National Park
Explor Date: April 2 of 2023
“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.”
“Why do you like going to Joshua Tree so often, there’s nothing to see out there. It’s a desert, everything’s so dry and dead and sharp, and it takes forever to get there. Last time we went, it was so cold and windy you couldn’t even get out of the car without getting sand in your hair, and there was no place to park if we wanted to. And the line to get it? Forget it, give me the mall instead.”
Some of us may have that friend…
I was lucky enough to be able to spend all day Sunday in the park. My trip plan consisted of obtaining Beef Jerky at the local 7-11, icing down my Dr. Pepper and Prime, grabbing some other snacks and then heading straight to the sandy washes south of Cottonwood Springs, to look for colorful things. My trip unplan turned out to be forgetting to wear my sun hat and long-sleeve hiking shirt for the entire day. Both the trip plan and unplan created colorful results….
Driving south on Pinto Basin Road (which becomes Cottonwood Springs Road south of the Cottonwood Ranger Station) may look like a boring, waste of time drive to that friend we were talking about, but it’s anything but. While there aren’t many jumbo rocks to climb on in this part of the park, nor are there any Joshua Trees to admire, there’s plenty to see, it just takes some looking and perhaps some hiking. There’s Native American places, historic places, oasis places, gold mining places and sometimes during spring, there are colorful places.
The following photos were taken from several stops at different washes along the road. I’m not a botanist, and I don’t play one on TV. But I do try to identify the wildflowers I find. Any help is greatly appreciated, feel free to leave comments 😎.
Purple Mat - loves the sandy washes and grows and blooms right close to the ground
Blossoms amidst the decay
By the pricking of my thumbs, something pointy this way comes
One of the most colorful spots of the day
The Ocotillo
Lupine
Sand Blazing Star
A mining days relic, probably from nearby Moorten’s Mill
Following are a bunch of pics, click on any of them to see them in a larger format.
And following here are a bunch of pretty flowers, sort of arranged by color. Click on any to see them magically triple in size!
The sandy washes were literally “awash” with colors, it was truly a splendid sight and area to spend a beautiful Sunday.
I drove a little further south from where these last two pictures were taken, but the flowers abruptly ended before I even got close to the Bajada Nature Trail near the southern border of the park. Flipping a U, there were still other things to see, no sense in burning daylight.
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