A day in the park, Joshua Tree National Park, The park web site
We stopped in at the nearest entrance, there are three, to get the orientation, pick up the Junior Ranger packet, and plan our attack.
We ended up on a couple of 1 mile trails. The first was to a small hidden valley, apparently where cattle and horse wrestlers of old would drive the stock after stealing then, re-brand them, then head them off to market. Apparently it was a pretty successful operation for awhile, seeing as how isolated it was.
The second hike was to a dam that one of the settlers had enlarged in order to store adequate water for their crops and livestock. Seems the rain fall in this area is now about 1/2 of what it was in the 1800's.
We saw a number of blooming cactus, not an explosion, but a few. Lots of the strange looking Joshua trees, lots of boulders, a couple of lizards and a fair number of fellow tourists.
We did not plan our time well and made it back to the ranger station after they had closed. The newest Jr Ranger will have to wait a day for the swearing in.
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