We were in the car and headed for the park at 5:30 AM today, and I think we were both half asleep! We made the long drive to the Cholla Cactus Gardens for a sunrise shoot--we just barely made it in time to capture the golden light on the cactus blooms.
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| Cholla cactus |
It was even better than shooting it at sunset the first night, and I was delighted by a hummingbird moth. It seems to be a morning creature that hovers above the flowers, beating its wings and touching the blooms with its long, hooked beak (?). It was about an inch long. I had to wait quite a while to photograph one, as they flit about quite a bit just like a hummingbird.
Next we headed to the eastern end of the park near Cottonwood Campground for the Lost Palms Oasis Trail. This 7.4-mile hike was to be our run for the day. It was truly the highlight of the entire trip. The trail was fairly easy-going with lots of ups and downs as we ran in and out of washes. The wildflowers were more prolific, varied, and abundant here than anywhere else in the park. I loved the ocotillo growing here at the lower elevation (this part of the park is in the Colorado Desert while the western part of the park is in the Mojave Desert). I have never seen it with leaves or blossoms on it. Most of the year it is brown and dead looking.
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| John makes his way down the granite path on our run of Lost Palms Oasis Trail. |
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| Barrel cactus |
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| Hedgehog cactus |
Eventually, we came to the canyon where the largest collection of fan palms in the park grow and the trail's namesake. We scuttled down in the ravine, which is actually a fault line, to walk among the towering palms. They were just amazing in the middle of a desert. We listened to the wind rustle the great branches and heard a canyon wren, my favorite desert bird. Link to canyon wren video (listen very closely, no visual of wren in video):
https://goo.gl/photos/NPtLvVzMCu5MEChc8
Garmin run data:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1677916935
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| Fan palms of the lost oasis |
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| It was astonishing to see such lush vegetation in the desert. The oases happen where water seeps up through a fault line. |
On the way back, I came round a corner in a part of the trail where you go through a wash for a while and bumped a branch of a bush. Moments later, a rattlesnake gave me quite a fright, and as John came by, it rattled at him, too. We didn't see it, nor did we care to!
On the way out, we also saw two desert iguanas that were either fighting or mating. They were in the middle of the trail and didn't seem to concerned that we were there.They were about nine inches long head to tail.
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| Desert iguanas |
We made the hour and fifteen minute drive back to Joshua Tree (the town) and grabbed a coffee again and used the wifi to post some pictures and update yesterday's post. Meanwhile, we had Pie for the People make us a vegan pizza (they actually have one called "The Vegan") and we crossed the street to get smoothies at Natural Sisters' Cafe.
Our plan was to do an evening shoot and then have the pizza when we got home around 8:30, but the sky was hazy with no good clouds, and there wasn't really another thing we could shoot that we hadn't already that didn't need a good sky, so we decided to stay home and go to bed early. It was nice to relax. So we ate our pizza and went to bed at 9:00. Tomorrow, we start for home,
Ellen
We decided the night before that if there were clouds in the morning sky we would proceed to the Monolith and Juniper for the morning shoot. If no clouds, then we would go back to the Cholla Garden.
We ended up at the garden for another morning session. This time we hike east out of the empty parking lot into the cholla. The lighting was flat and then the sun appeared and generated color, glow, depth, birds, insects, and warmth. It was beautiful and quiet. I stepped on a cholla burr and had to take my shoe and sock off to be able to pull the needles out of my ankle. The holes bled.
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| The golden hour is the best time for photography, even though it means getting up two hours before sunrise. |
I tend to stay put after finding a composition and work the selective focus and exposures. Ellen likes to move from one composition to the next. I think her strategy is good for creativity.
Once we lost the golden hour we proceeded down the road about 18 miles to Cottonwood Campground where we found the road to the trailhead for our day's run. The destination after a 3.7 mile run is aptly named Lost Palms Oasis. Evidently a fracture in a fault line allows enough water to seep up to enable palm trees to grow.
I counted four washes that we had to run up the banks and then back down to the next one. The first mile was another grunt for me. After that the sights, sounds, and colorful displays of flowers were enough to take my mind off my dead legs and sore knees. Once at the oasis we had the entire area to ourselves. The only sounds we heard were songs from the various birds and the warm, gentle wind moving the palms. We had a "lunch" (the remains of our fig bars) and then explored the area with plenty of photos via our phones. It was a beautiful setting, one that I will never forget.
Ellen running down into a wash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdGwWpJktI
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| Ellen enjoys the narrow wash with flowers growing from cracks in the walls. |
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| Ellen runs by the ocotillo (tall, spiky bushes).. |
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| A view of the first clump of fan palms from above |
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| Ellen runs down into the canyon where the palms are. |
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| Walking through the oasis |
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| Ellen was just amazed by the sight! |
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| Back in the wash on the way out |
We headed back to the car and encountered numerous hikers making their way through the washes and flower displays. We found the return run to be a cruise. I think the gel at mile five gave me the extra energy I needed. After changing into dry clothes (I love cotton) I hung my water bladder on the headrest and finished off the water as I sat and rested in the hot car. My mouth was dry during the familiar drive back to Joshua Tree. I kept thinking what a hard life the First People had as they eked out a living in that dry world. Truly amazing. I downed a Seven Up, a coffee, and a smoothie within an hour.
We ordered a pizza to take home and had wine, veggies and dip back at the home. We put our feet up on the coffee table and relaxed. It was then that I suggested we skip the evening shoot due to the clear sky. That was my excuse. No clouds, no color. Ellen bought into it so we drank wine and champagne as we finished off the pizza. We were asleep just after nine. What a great day. The run on that trail is equal to or better than any trail I have ever been on. I am sure we will return in the near future.
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| Bee Smith, the homeless street musician who has a degree in business from Oregon State, played and sang a song for John about Portland. |
John
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