Ms. Marks and I took the long way through the park this year - about a 3 hour trip across the entire navigable area of the park. These boulder-like cliffs are the result of millions of years of geological change
Images from our 2003 visit to Joshua Tree National Park near Palm Desert, California
Click on thumbnail images for larger picture. (Nearly) all of the images are high resolution, so please be patient! They're worth the wait...promise!
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Ms. Marks and I took the long way through the park this year - about a 3 hour trip across the entire navigable area of the park. These boulder-like cliffs are the result of millions of years of geological change |
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The entire area use to be under water, but over millions of years of years, water eroded the soil away from these boulders, which used to be completely under ground |
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Joshua Tree is a beautiful ecosystem, and it's austerity is unbelievably compelling. We spent time in the desert this year just sitting and enjoying the silence |
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Ms Mark's dashed through the desert to get this picture... |
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...and took this beautiful one as we watched a group of rock climbers mill about the cliff. Rock climbers are fairly commonplace in the park, and they are amazing to watch |
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We drove around the park to find a really amazing Joshua Tree to capture with our digital camera. I think you will agree that this one is really beautiful...too bad the road was so close... |
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I took this one by dashing into the desert and jumping into a ditch. There are lots of ditches around the mountains which apparently function as a drainage wash for the area |
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Another shot from deep inside the ditch... |
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Ms. Marks and I sat around the boulder for about an hour. I smoked a cigar, while she explored the desert area around this boulder. It was so beautiful out there... |
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A number of the rocks in this area had a brilliant rust-colored appearance to them. |
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Look at the great detail captured in this shot of a small plant. Ms. Marks really has an eye for the small things that one usually misses.... |
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She milled about for quite some time, looking for interesting things to photograph. I'm always amazed at how many great things she is able to uncover. |
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We spent about 4 hours in total in the park, and we look forward to going back the next time we are able to get to the Desert. |
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We traveled from the west side of the park, to the east side. The west side has most of the really cool cliff-like rocks and lots of Joshua Trees, while the east side is more like a typical desert - lots of open space, sand, and yucca plants. Both sides are equally beautiful... |
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and dramatic. The west end keeps you in awe due to the Joshua Trees, while the east side has dramatic views of open space framed by the beauty of the Eagle Moutains |
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