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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Joshua Tree State Park

Twentynine Palms is near Joshua Tree State Park so we decided to take a drive and go through a portion of the Park.
The park has been a U.S National Monument since 1936. In 1994 is became a U.S. National Park. Joshua Tree National Park covers over 425,000 acres and has parts of two deserts: the Colorado and the Mojave.

At the Oasis Visitor Center, there is a tribute to Minerva Hamilton Hoyt who was instrumental in bringing national attention to the area and eventually getting it designated a National Monument in 1936.
This mural is a tribute to her.

It was a surprise to me that the elevation in these parts is over 4,000 feet. In fact the two deserts are somewhat divided by elevation. The Colorado Desert runs up to 3,000 feet, the Mojave Desert above 3,000.
We stopped at Jumbo Rocks where they had some tent sites and also some sites suitable for RV's. They have no hookups or water but they do have plenty of latrines for each group of sites.
The National Park has some fantastic scenes of beauty that is different than what we have seen in any other area we have visited.

If you have never been to this part of California, the Joshua Tree National Park is a beautiful, different place to see in the High Desert of California. We sure enjoyed our time there.

Thanks for view the Roadrunner Chronicles and joining us today!

4 comments:

  1. I bet you can see the stars pretty good too. The edge of the galactic plane should be clearly visible. You like that astronomy talk? Gil

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  2. Those are beautiful photos of the desert scenery. Thanks for taking us there with you.

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  3. Great pics, Randy. We too enjoyed Joshua Tree NP very much and intend to visit it again during our current stay here.

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