Boulders in Joshua Tree National Park

 Friday, May 7 for Wednesday, May 5, 2021


We had a good old-fashioned motel overnight, but as I mentioned, we were off Route 66 for the purpose of visiting Joshua Tree National Park. We checked out and headed to the Park. The hotel parking lot, then the Park entrance.



Also as mentioned, Randy was fascinated with the different "Xing" signs we saw throughout the different parks and wilderness areas. She really liked this one. However, we did not see any tortoises on this day.


Joshua Tree National Park is quite a combination of both boulders and hills, and Joshua Trees and vegetation. Following are a number of pictures with all of those aspects.




Fun for me is the area shown in the pictures immediately below. As I wandered into this area to take pictures, I began to remember doing the same thing with a camera 15- 16 years ago.



One of the things that struck me about so many of these boulder structures was how they were balanced, seemingly in very precarious positions. I was and am continually amazed by the enormity of the boulders, and the variety of shapes and balances.


Below is Split Rock, as you can see. I am in it to give some size perspective.



Just having fun taking a picture of my shadow far below ...



Another formation, this one called Skull Rock. Same as the first picture in this post, but that was the one to appeal to 13-year-old boys.



The picture below shows a transition area -- the boulders were at a lower elevation, and the trees became more numerous as we went to higher elevations.




As we got higher, and I presume cooler, we found the vegetation increased in general, so the area seemed greener all over.




But having said that, there were still boulder formations as we went up!





I thought it was worth trying to take a panoramic picture to show what we were experiencing.


We thought this formation looked like a sperm whale breaking through the surface of the ocean!



Our obligatory selfie for the day ... 


We tried to make the next formation look like an elephant. Maybe we looked at too many boulders?





If you can expand the picture below, it is worth a read to tell the difference between a Joshua Tree, which is not really a tree, and a real tree.


After we left the park, we headed north to pick up Route 66 again. On the way, we stopped at what was the Holland Burger Cafe, an old truck stop, now called Emma Jean's. We had GREAT burgers and fries. 




We traveled on Route 66 and arrived in Barstow. i had taught at a USMC Supply Depot in Barstow many years before, and had been there twice. Barstow had been a sleepy little town, some would call boring, but it was hopping, at least where we stopped for the night.  We did not need dinner, but we did need ice cream. We found a local favorite right on Route 66.




That was it for the day. The next day, we were to head further west on Route 66 for more features to see and spend some time with Randy's cousin Janie Griffiths and her husband Paul. More on that later.








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