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Joshua Tree National Park comprises regions of two deserts: the Colorado (the
hot dry eastern portion of the park) and the Mojave Desert (the high cool western
portion).
Close-up
Not so close-up
Way High Up
You can drive to Keys View at 5,185 feet above sea level and see out over the
Coachella Valley to Palm Springs and the Salton Sea.
The tree, the whole tree, and nothing but the tree
Actually Joshua Trees are succulents, related to the Yucca bush. According to
the Michelin Green Guide to California
, these were named by Mormon travelers. The
strange contorted branches made them think of Joshua pointing the way to the
promised land.
and when you're not too lazy to drag out the 4x5 view camera... (click on the
thumbnail below for an experience in sharpness)
Five Easy Pieces...
... of Joshua Trees
OK; maybe I could only find two.
Cholla Cactus Garden
Rock-oriented Photos
Just East of Twentynine Palms
If you keep driving east on California Highway 62, you will cross the Mojave
Desert into Nevada.
Practical
Visit in March or April so that you can enjoy the wildflowers. Take water and
food into the park. Allow at least two days to see most of the interesting
road-accessible sights. Bring a hat.
Stay and have dinner at the 29 Palms Inn in the town of Twentynine Palms:
(760) 367-3505. The inn is less than a mile from the park entrance.
Photo Nerd Checklist
If you're a camera nerd, here is your checklist for Joshua Tree:
Wide angle lens for all-around work. I brought my Canon 17-35/2.8L zoom.
perspective correction lens for images of Joshua Trees. I bought a Canon 24
T/S lens and it was often useful. A longer tilt-shift lens might have been nice
as well.
Macro lens for wildflowers. The longer the better. I had a 180/3.5L Canon for
most of the macro pictures on this page.
Telephoto lens to isolate and compress elements. In 35mm, I'd use an
80-200/2.8 zoom.
Camera body. If you were a real stud like I used to be, you'd take a medium
or large format camera. If you are a lazy slob like I am now, you'd just stick
with a
Nikon or Canon 35mm SLR.
Panoramic camera. I had good luck using a
Fuji
6x17cm camera in Joshua Tree.
Alarm clock. You'll need to get out at 6 am if you want to get good light.
Oftentimes, it gets so windy by 9 am that you can't capture wildflowers
effectively with a tripod (i.e., they are blowing around and your 1/15th of a
second shutter speed will result in motion blur).
Wow, this new gallery sure does bring back
memories. I used to practically live in the Joshua
Tree National Park on the weekends when I lived in
California.
My friends and I would get there on Friday night
and camp out until Sunday. There is nothing like
sleeping under the stars in the open desert air.
Every star in the sky could be seen and during
meteor showers it was almost like fireworks.
At night you also get packs of kangaroo mice
jumping all over the place...which is why we always
slept on cots instead of right on the ground.
Besides, you didn't want to wake up with a
rattlesnake curled up beside you!
Another thing that you might want to mention about Joshua Tree is that it is a great place to hike, bike and mountain climb. I live in California, and anyone who hikes or mountain climbs braggs about going to Joshua Tree, or,
This may not be a profound observation, but viewing the Joshua Tree photos, I am struck that if one puts aside the idea that green is the beautiful color of nature, earth tones are also very lovely. Also, that high resolution scans are very much worth the trouble and expense to serious photo lovers. Philip sets very high standards for us.
1998's El Nino rains brought out loads of wildflowers, but there were few left by April 10 or so
Go in early April, if not earlier, for flowers -- by late April they are gone.
The nearby town of Yucca has exploded recently -- population was around 3000 when I was there in April 1998, and 30,000 when I was there in September 2001. This has pluses and minuses, such as convenient access to air-conditioned movie theaters on broiling 110-degree afternoons, but extra smog to hide the incredible nighttime sky. Fortunately Yucca is far enough away not to add much light pollution, if you are into astrophotography.
Just moved from the East Coast to the LA area, I am earger to explore the new enviorment. Joshua Tree National Park is so nearby and so I went there during a weekend. "Otherworldly" would be the best description for this desert filled with giant rocks and armies of Joshua Trees. One thing I found interesting was that the desert was so quiet, and I could easily hear people talking from a great distance.
I grew up in 29 Palms and we hiked the "monument" as we used to call it just about every weekend when we were kids. Thanks for taking me back to my childhood!
I am new to digital photography and had a chance to go to 29 Palms for a business trip. I had some time to visit Joshua Tree NP and took many pictures. It was a wonderful place to try out my new Canon 40D. As I said I am new to digital photography but I got some great shots. Shot mostly in JPEG becaues I am not confident with RAW yet, but I am working on it.
Looking forward to my next 'business ' trip with my camera.
