Joshua Tree National Park

For Christmas 2024, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. Our family met us at the AirBnB we rented for the week, and we had a few days enjoying the holidays with them in the desert.

Joshua Tree National Monument was created in 1936, and the area was elevated to National Park status by Congress in 1994. Of the park’s current 792,623 acres, 591,624 is designated wilderness.

The National Park Service tells us…

“Joshua Tree is home to world-famous rock formations, funky Joshua trees, and a rich diversity of plants, animals, and human history. With stunning desert vistas and seemingly endless days of sunshine, the park attracts over three million visitors per year. There are a variety of activities and sights to experience. “

“Joshua Tree’s nearly 800,000 acres were set aside to protect the unique assembly of natural resources brought together by the junction of three of California’s ecosystems:

The Colorado Desert, a western extension of the vast Sonoran Desert, occupies the southern and eastern parts of the park. It is characterized by stands of spike-like ocotillo plants and “jumping” cholla cactus.
The southern boundary of the Mojave Desert reaches across the northern part of the park. It is the habitat of the park’s namesake: the Joshua tree. Extensive stands of this peculiar looking plant are found in the western half of the park.
Joshua Tree’s third ecosystem is located in the westernmost part of the park above 4,000 feet (1,219 m). The Little San Bernardino Mountains provide habitat for a community of California juniper and pinyon pine.”

Driving into the park, the enormous rock formations dwarfed everything. We thought it might be the same as if we were on some kind of alien landscape. We found ourselves wondering, ‘How did all these rocks just end up piled up like this?’ Millions and millions of rocks, piled up into odd formations, with the odd looking ‘Joshua Trees’, which look nothing like trees at all, growing all around.

We learned that the rocks were pushed up from beneath the earth’s surface by the force of magma far inside the planet – over millions of years. Plant life is sprouted at every opportunity, any little crack or crevice where moisture might collect and provide enough for a seed to germinate.

While the desert seems a pretty desolate place at first, I find that if you just spend some time listening, watching, waiting, you’ll see a lot more than you may expect.