Days 56-59 26-29 December 2015 Prescott AZ & Joshua Tree National Park

Day 56  26 December 2015 Prescott AZ 
We stopped to see Midge's father's first cousin Paul Carmen and his wife Josie in Prescott, Arizona. This is Midge with her cousin Hannah, granddaughter of Paul and Josie.

Chris and Renate Carmen, Josie and Paul Carmen, Midge and Ed

Red Lobster Restaurant in Prescott

Day 57 27 December 2015 Prescott AZ to Twentynine Palms CA (277 miles)
View of Thumb Butte from Paul and Josie's house.

Farewell before heading west.

We saw our first Saguaro cactus as we approached the Arizona-California border.

The "Desert Palms Golf and RV Resort" and may others like it look like they started with high aspirations and have now seen better days.

Clearly a reference to Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal, but it's not clear why it's here in the desert.

We got to the Joshua Tree National Park North Entrance visitor center late in the day. There was time to have a quick look at the exhibits and then go for a short walk.

Washington Fan Palms -- found at springs and seeps across the Colorado Desert. The Colorado Desert is in the eastern part of the park below 3000 feet elevation.

Day 58  28 December 2015  Joshua Tree NP (85 miles)
We spent the night at Twentynine Palms, just outside the park, and drove in the next morning.

We went in the West Entrance to the park. This is one of the first Joshua trees we saw, and everything we expected a Joshua tree to be. The Joshua tree is a species of yucca, indicative of the Mojave Desert and found in the western desert above 3000 feet.

Our first stop was Quail Springs

There were rock climbers here and on many of the rocks throughout the park.

The rocks are granite formed underground. It intruded the overlying rock. The surface soil eroded leaving these heaps. 

Hidden Valley 1-mile loop walk.

Jumping cholla cactus

Rock wren

Scrub oak

There were many climbers bouldering and doing short climbs on the granite at Joshua Tree. 

We ascended 1000 feet (3-mile round trip) to  the top of Ryan Mountain.

Fish hook barrel cactus

Walk from Skull Rock to Jumbo Rocks Camground

Bighorn Pass Road

Day 59  29 December 2015 Joshua Tree NP to Escondido CA (201 miles)
Today we traversed the park from North Entrance to Cottonwood Spring. 

Arch Rock

Cholla Cactus Garden

Skeleton of cholla

Ocotillo Patch

Cottonwood Spring

Mortar used by Indians for grinding corn at Cottonwood Spring

3-mile Mastodon Loop Trail at Cottonwood Spring

View of Salton Sea from Mastodon Peak

Mistletoe

Phainopeplas eat the mistletoe berries

Bajada Nature Trail

Crop growing area near Mecca, just north of the the Salton Sea

Date palms on the west shore of the Salton Sea

Desert Shores, Salton Sea. The sea is 234 feet below sea level. A major inflow of water occurred in 1905 when engineers diverted the Colorado River, misjudged their ability to control flow, and for two years the Colorado River filled the formerly dry lake bed to its present level.

.oOo.