Tucked into the southeastern corner of California is Joshua Tree National Park, our adventure destination for today. The park gives visitors a chance to experience two unique deserts: the Mojave and the Colorado. Each has its own unique plants and animals.Today we visited the Mojave section, known for its rock formations, relatively cooler temperatures, and of course, Joshua trees!

The iconic plants are not actually trees in the scientific sense, but relatives of agave plants (but no tequila!).

The weather forecast called for 80+ temps and we were somewhat concerned that we were going die of the heat. Once we started our hike, we were pleasantly surprised by the very comfortable ambient temperature. It was even a little cool. As the day wore on, the beating sun made things a little warmer, but it was never oppressive. Bill looked for places to cool off. There were plenty of places in the rocks to do that.

He fits in there as if the hole was made just for him!

We decided to do the Split Rock Loop Trail, a very popular trail in the park. We aren’t sure if we ever got to see split rock (everything looks like a split rock!) or even if we were on the right trail (we lost the trail a couple of times…it’s our MO at this point), but it was a pleasant walk nonetheless. We’ve visited several “desert” locations and each has been different. The Mojave has lots of interesting cacti species and other unique plants that I’ve only seen in garden stores. It was awesome to see them in the wild.

This cactus loves hikers…can you see how I know?

We were on high alert to spot any one of the many animal species that live in the area: wood rats, tarantulas, scorpions, coyotes, foxes, sidewinders, etc. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any on the hike, but as with most of the national parks we’ve visited, there was lots of pleasing scenery.

This area of Joshua has lots of what you see here: rocks, yucca, Joshua trees and sand.

One of the coolest rock formations in the park is called Skull Rock. Based on the number of people milling around, it is probably one of the most popular attractions. Visitors wait in line to have their picture taken with the skull. Billy took it a step further and climbed into one of the eyes.

The skull illusion is much better from a different angle (see Billy’s pic here), but you get the idea.

One of the rangers in the visitor center highly recommended taking the geology road tour into the back country. Eighteen miles and more than two hours later, we didn’t see a whole lot and gave the car’s shocks a real workout in the process. So…if you decide to visit this park, we’d recommend you DON’T take it. Spend the time hiking around exploring instead.

We finished just as the sun was setting and quickly looked for a place to grab some photos of the much-anticipated rising supermoon. We climbed up a rock formation and camped out and finally saw it…ascending full and yellow into the sky.

My attempt at a moon photo. Look how yellow it is!

When we got back to the car, it was dark. Naturally, it was then that we spotted a fox trotting through the parking lot practically begging to have its photo taken. Alas…too dark.

Tomorrow we are driving to the other side of the park (and the other desert) on our way to Tuscon, Arizona. If anyone knows anything in Tuscon that is a must-see, please let us know! Thanks for visiting!

The sunset before the moon.