Ray and I visited our 6th National Park together in January, with number six being Joshua Tree.
The country was in the throes of the 35 day government shutdown and even though the National Parks were “open,” they weren’t properly staffed. News reports out of Joshua Tree the week before we left for California were abysmal.
Vandals were cutting down Joshua Trees.
The park was shutting down due to the vandals and overflowing toilets.
The campgrounds were closing because of unsanitary conditions.
It was first reported the park would close entirely because of the conditions, but the next day the decision was reversed.
I was in California for work so we were visiting the area with or without seeing the park, but Joshua Tree was a big factor in extending the trip. I left not knowing if the park would be open when Ray came out to meet me, and even the night before we weren’t exactly sure what we would find.
Naturally, we were expecting the worst.
Chainsaw wielding tree vandals!
Heaps of human waste!
Mountains of trash!
Cats and dogs living together!
In actuality, the park was perfection. Give it up for press reports, Joshua Tree lovers and volunteers and park rangers who came together to clean up their beloved park and keep a close watch.
What we found was a beautiful National Park and hundreds of other visitors respecting the land and facilities. We were prepared to ninja any tree destroying bandits, but we didn’t need to. (Lucky for them!)
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| You know this was written because this is EXACTLY what someone told a Park Ranger. |
I guess I should have known that with a name like Joshua Tree there would be plenty of Joshua Trees. Yet somehow, it didn’t occur to me there would be hundreds of square miles of them. I think in my head it would be like the cover of the U2 album, and everyone would be flocking toward the 100 or so Joshua Trees in the park, praying and worshiping them because they were so infrequent.
Surprise! They are everywhere.
Sort of. The park is so vast it’s actually two separate desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado Deserts. In the cooler Mojave desert, Joshua Trees are plentiful. But below 3,000 feet, they completely disappear and you find other desert flora, like the dreaded cholla cactus!
The Cholla Garden comes complete with several warning signs and a First Aid kit at the entrance. A coworker who lives near the park was describing to me how his son was persecuted by a cholla cactus and the whole family fled from the garden to the car in an effort to escape them.
I thought this was hilarious.
Ray and I did not face any Cholla wrath, thankfully.
About 20 seconds after Ray snapped this photo of me waving, a Park Ranger stopped to check that I was ok. He saw me waving toward a car and thought I might be stuck. I wasn't, but I was grateful he stopped. And this man was likely not getting paid to work that day.
