Joshua Tree National Park

 It didn’t look like a long day.  50 miles through the park then 150 miles to Spring Valley.  The ride through the park was beautiful.  Rugged, lots of stops to view the various vegetation and many walking trails.  It was still 106 degrees so I did take a very short walk.  The park spans the Mohave Desert and the Colorado Desert.  The transition is very gradual with the Joshua Trees in the Mohave section.

The Yucca Moth is the only insect that pollinates these trees and they are in decline so the future of the Joshua tree in in danger.

The Colorado Desert side has an abundance of other cactus to see and I was especially fond of the fury silvery ones.

It was one of my destinations to see Joshua Tree and it was well worth it!  I visited with the ranger at the exit and proceeded on to Spring Valley.  It was a horrible trip on 6 different interstates with exit ramps backed up 1 mile and entrance ramps the same with double lane exits filtering into a single lane to get back onto the next interstate.  Some of the interstates were 6 miles to the next interstate.  Of the 4 hour trip for 150 miles I spent most of my time on exit/entrance ramps.  I have started planning my escape back to Flagstaff.  But first some much needed rest at the Hacienda Vineyard.