100 Year Bloomers

[woodwizard]

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View attachment 4545At the confluence of the Colorado and Mohave Deserts exists one of the most extraordinary scenes that I’ve ever experienced. We are standing on the side of Highway 195, ascending the south face of the Cottonwood Mountains. For the month of February it had rained a record amount—something extremely rare for this part of the Southwest. “It looks like an ocean of color. Who knew the desert could look like this?” my girlfriend Scout said as she surveyed the thousands of acres of wildflowers that surrounded us and rolled up to the horizons. It began to sink in that we were standing in the middle of a rare phenomenon that happens only once every hundred years. Witnessing this was a privilege- it was enlightening. It was one of those moments that makes you remember how amazing nature truly is and it represents a promise kept to ourselves- for all the reasons why we go looking for these adventures.

We only had a short weekend as we headed north, cutting through Joshua Tree toward our end-of-the-day destination, Twentynine Palms. Without speaking a word, we both knew that our brief weekend in Joshua Tree was going to be very special, we just didn’t know how special. To begin with, the ecosystem itself is a diverse and unexpected blend of rock formations, over 700 species of plants, unique wildlife, and the sci-fi landscape of the blooming Joshua Trees. As some of you may know, the cover of U2’s album The Joshua Tree features a spectacular tree, but it’s not in the park. The ranger smiled as she saw us approaching with the CD in hand. She broke the news that the tree was located north, closer to Death Valley and had died. (http://www.joshuatreenationalpark.net/u2tree.htm). Starting with the first note of In God’s Country the slide show of this weekend replays itself every time I hear it.........[/ATTACH]

 

[woodwizard]

100 Year Bloomers Part 2

View attachment 4551Our first excursion was down Pinkham Canyon Road, a well-marked loop dirt road that eventually leads back to the south entrance of the Park. We chose to just do an out-and-back of 5 miles that had no challenges other than trying to stay on the road with all the rubber-necking. It had some beautiful vistas and no tourists. We were climbing through the red tufted ocotillo patch to the higher Mojave Desert as the flowers became a little less abundant but no less brilliant. The sky was deep blue, the clouds unorganized and exciting, the views were pure and clear. Our next stop brought reality back in a big, painful, way…..the Teddy Bear Jumping Cholla Forest. With Scout living in Phoenix and me in Rancho Mirage, we felt fairly comfortable and very respectful around cactuses. The hike down the well-entrenched trail was completely uneventful to the point that we wondered why this cactus was given such a bad rap. With such confidence brought the kiss-of-death deep in this forest. Scout, ever so lightly, brushed against one with her hand. Although, to this day, she still contends she never touched it and it did, in fact JUMP onto her hand. I can’t describe the sound she emitted— just one you know isn’t good. When I turned around she was holding her hand out with a large pod attached with, what seemed, a hundred needles stuck in her skin. Holding out her hand, looking at me with eyes of pain and needing help, I was very careful to survey the situation as not to make it worse. We were more than 300 yards from the parked truck and completely encircled by these cactuses. The needles would pass right through any double leather work gloves that I had. Then I remembered my Trusty Leatherman. Grabbing a couple of the needles and pulling only grossly stretched the skin and still wouldn’t come free. Thinking… thinking, I slipped the slightly opened needle-nosed pliers between the cactus and her skin. Holding her wrist, enduring the language that flowed so freely and lifting-pulling, adding more and more force (a surprising amount) did the Teddy Bear start to come free. Flash-- don’t pull so hard that there is a sudden release and I ********** myself in the face with the cactus followed closely with the pliers. Working it, I finally removed it and gave it a good fling back to were it came. I opened the door, helped her in and put a cold beer in her hand (opened and for medical reasons only). As we pulled away and saluted goodbye, we noticed another couple exiting the forest with her hand covered in pods- lesson learned.
Almost immediately after taking off from the cholla forest, we crossed from the lower, warmer, blooming Colorado Desert to the higher Mojave. The scene went from an exploding carpet of wildflowers to the appearance of a steady increase in Joshua trees. The rest of the day was spent driving up Pinto Basin Road and out through Park Boulevard to the north entrance. Along the way we did reconnaissance at White Tank (15 sites) and Belle (18 sites) campgrounds. Cool settings among the boulders and not an over abundance of sites, which has plagued some national park campgrounds. No available water needs to be considered. The smaller, tighter campgrounds and limited resources keeps out large RV’s and their generators.


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[Ursidae69]

Interesting posts. :arabia:

The cholla story reminded me of my past mishaps with that cactus...

 

[crawler#976]

great post!

We did indeed have a beautiful spring in most of the southwest. Hope to have a similar one this year.

Flashback to 1962 - we'd been living in AZ for a year. I was two, so I don't remember the "event", but it's part of the Longfield family lore...

My dear Grandmother Welberry came to visit the Wild West from Michigan. We took a family trip to see the wide open desert waaay out north of Scottsdale on the road to Carefree. somehow she managed to back into a large cholla - leaving her son-in-law with the chore of removing many, many steeeker from her backside :sombrero:

Mark