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Joshua Tree’s 2019 Supershow

March 31, 2019 by Lee Leave a Comment

Park entrance sign
To the superbloom!
Desert bluebells
Desert bluebells

Since our January 12 visit to Joshua Tree, some very nice rainfall has brought extensive color to virtually every area of the park.  With little more than an all-eyes drive from the most southerly entrance to the park (at the I-10) to the northerly entrance at 29 Palms, we were transfixed by the artists’ pallettes almost everywhere.

The stars of the show are the desert dandelions, now at peak, mixing their bright fluorescent yellows and snowy whites with the poppy oranges and an alluring yellow primrose species seen in the sandy washes.  One of the nicest flower displays is currently the delicate white flowers of the sand blazing star (Mentzelia involucrata) which grow in small clusters among sand and rock.  Look for them as wispy clusters about 24″ high delicately waving in the breeze.

Sand blazing star
Sand blazing star

The lower washes in Cottonwood Canyon feature the rich deep blue and purple desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia)—also called desert canterbury bells—which have no rival in that band of the spectrum.  Cottonwood Canyon can be reached from the south entrance of the park, north of the I-10, but as of April 3 the show is what may be called “past-peak,” with one exception being the beautiful bluebells in the washes crossing the winding road through the canyon which reaches the visitor’s center at the top. 

Lupine
Lupine

Park staff serve the visitor’s center until 4 PM, where very useful maps, displays and information are available.  Restrooms are located there as well.  Beyond the center is the gently meandering Pinto Basin Road, traversing the northwest periphery of a sprawling desert plain that can be said to be Sonoran Desert and Mojave Desert at the same time.

Many of the photos in the manual slideshow below where taken March 31 in the northerly reach of the bajada at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon, where the chia and lupine displays were particularly phenomenal.  This area is embraced by golden hills adorned with vibrant brittlebush and the flower-drenched shrubs of bladderpod.

The best blooms we saw were quite accessible along Pinto Basin Road, with only a little walking or hiking needed to reach some striking views. A few recommended spots are shown in the map beneath the photo gallery.

To enter the manual slideshow below, click on any image.  Photos by Barbara Swanson.

Radiant poppies in a light breeze
Heart of a sand blazing star
A "chia forest"  landscape
Bright brittlebush in a chia forest
Bladderpod blossoms reach for the sun
"Peak," 2019 Joshua Tree Nat'l Park superbloom
Proud flowerbed of poppies
Joshua Tree in vibrant bloom
A wild hare pauses amid a spectacle of  poppies
Cholla in the afternoon sun as the poppies close

 

Click on any icon in the map box below for a popup photo and title of the site as georeferenced. The map can be made full-screen (upper-right box) and can be switched to satellite view or back to terrain (default). The map also supports zooming.

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Joshua Tree area weather and forecast

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Joshua Tree at twilight
Joshua Tree at twilight

Below: Joshua Tree’s 2008 Superbloom. Click to enter gallery.

Sand Blazing Star
Joshua Tree Sunset
Cholla Cactus Garden
Brown-eyed primrose
Colorful flower field
Desert Dandelions
Fiddleneck
Flower field
Lupine field
Myriad of flowers
Ocotillo and clouds

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A quote for this month

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

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