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Joshua Tree National Park, California
March 21-28, 2009
THE LOCATION
THE TRIP
Joshua Tree National Park is 870 square miles of transition desert with features of both the Mohave and Sonoran deserts. Its varied terrain includes sand dunes and pinyon pine-covered mountains, native palm trees, and its namesake joshua tree.
The Mohave section is a high desert, at elevations between 3000 and 5000 feet. The joshua tree, a giant member of the lily family that lives only in the Mohave, tolerates the occasional snowfall and freezing temperatures at this elevation. In the park, expanses of joshua tree “forest” nestle among large, rounded rock formations, some of which sheltered ancient native American campsites.
The southern section of JTNP is known as the Colorado Desert, a sub-division of the Sonoran Desert. It is a low desert ranging in altitude from 3 thousand feet to sea level. It is hotter, drier, and less lush than the Mohave, but in good flowering seasons it can be a carpet of color. Because it lacks freezing temperatures it has many more species of cacti. The plants of both desert types have fascinating adaptations and interrelationships with the desert animals.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a mixed desert type like the Colorado Desert, and like the Colorado its lower elevation makes it hotter and drier. “Borrego” is Spanish for “sheep”, and this area is home to the desert bighorn. Its palm oases are wonderful hiking destinations, and here we can camp by a hot spring.
Hike, camp, and learn about the natural history of the Mohave for a week in Joshua Tree National Park and Anza-Borrego State Park. Five to 8-mile day hikes take us to several oases where native Washingtonian palms shade watering holes for desert bighorn sheep. If winter rains have come at the right time, the desert will be a carpet of color. We’ll visit a hot spring and petroglyphs in Anza-Borrego, and see for ourselves the difference between the high and low desert in Joshua Tree.
Price is $1000. This includes all transportation, camping fees, and food in California, with the exception of one dinner out at your expense. We arrive and take off from Orange County Airport and drive by the huge wind farm near Palm Springs. Air fare and travel arrangements are up to you. Some people choose to get here early and stay in a motel on arrival and/or departure.
The group will be made up of 2 crew members and 6 guests.
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