Joshua Tree’s Incomparable Spacescapes

January 19, 2019 by Lee Leave a Comment

We visited the south entrance of Joshua Tree on the afternoon of January 12, 2019, just a few miles north of I-10 on Cottonwood Springs Road. We stopped at several places along the road, amazed at how many young plants and flowers there were already.

The brittlebush was blooming profusely in some areas but not yet in others, and it was good to see so many young brittlebush plants that were 1-2 inches high.

There were many areas of brown-eyed primrose, with many of the flowers already past peak and forming numerous seed pods. The Arizona lupine was in full bloom, with the flower spikes over a foot high above the desert floor.

All the plants looked robust. There were patches of desert poppies and desert sunflowers, but as a storm was approaching, these flowers were tightly closed.

Some areas were so thick with small plants that it would not have been possible to step in these areas without walking on a plant! Please note: be very careful where you go; some areas have more barren areas where you can walk, but don’t step on the plants! Most of them only have one chance to bloom and set seed, and if you break the flower stalk, the plant can’t reproduce.

We saw several hummingbirds, including a male doing display flights, and a flock of smaller birds, probably either sparrows or finches. This looks to be a promising year for wildlife too because of all the rain.

Because a storm was approaching with thunder and lightning, the flower photo opportunities were somewhat limited, but I have included a few to share.

Click on any photo below to enter an interactive slideshow of the photos shown.

THE WINTER BEAUTY OF ANZA-BORREGO
A great place to visit n Anza-Borrego State Park in the winter months is Bisnaga Wash, flowing down from Whale Peak under the crisp, clear skies of the southeastern area of the park. Soaring hawks, the edges of storms collapsing at the rain shadow, and ebullient rainbows disappearing into the blue sky.

Bisnaga is an Americanism for the Spanish Biznaga, which refers to tall barrel cactus.

AMBOY CRATER IN WILDFLOWERS
A volcano flowing with neon green floats on a sea of yellow desert sunflowers. A season of spectacular rains may come only every five to eight years in the Southwest, producing prodigious blooms that bring sightseers from around the world and their insect pollinators from seemingly out of nowhere.

Amboy Crater was featured in a Huell Howser California Gold episode about Amboy in 1993 and the volcano itself came to life as a set location for the 1959 movie Journey to the Center of the Earth.

THE BUSY LIFE OF BOX CANYON
The little narrow canyon was in the 1840s the best route into San Diego from Arizona and Texas, and still showcases the Mormon Battalion hand-built road which became the route of the Butterfield Stage line. The stage route can be easily seen today, struggling between the narrowing canyon walls as it makes its way into Blair Valley and once-upon-a-time all the way to Los Angeles.

Somehow, an abundance of wildlife and color have been left behind, and thrive after 175 years, for time has not diminished the richness of the environs here, as they were for San Diego’s early settlers, which include an unusual density of barrel cactii, birds and and buzzing pollinators among a diverse garden of flowering plants and juniper trees.