Historic Joshua Tree Bloom

Whether you live here in the desert or you just come to visit, one event that everyone seems to look forward to is the Spring Bloom. Here at the Inn we get a lot of visitors from all over the world staying with us just so they can go up to the Joshua Tree National Park and we all of the wildflowers. We have had a very spectacular year so far regarding the Joshua Trees. This year seemed to be what people are calling a ‘historic’ bloom for these amazing plants.

The Joshua Tree is a part of the Agave family and they only sprout branches once they have bloomed. This is why some of the trees that you see will only be a straight stalk. It means that those particular trees have never bloomed. This year it is estimated that four out of five Joshua Trees have bloomed this season. In a typical year with what is considered a ‘good bloom’ only one out of five will bloom.

No one is really sure what has spawned this massive flowering however, a lot of people speculate that it has to do with a climate change due to global warming. While this may or may not be true it is hard to say because we have no other blooms of this size to compare it to. No matter the reason for it, it has a beautiful year to be up in the Joshua Tree National Park and behold this amazing sight!

For more information you can visit the following links:

http://www.kcet.org/living/travel/socal_wanderer/national-park/its-a-great-year-for-joshua-tree-blooms.html

http://www.kcet.org/news/the_back_forty/commentary/the-hidden-desert/joshua-tree-bloom-due-to-climate-change-not-so-fast.html

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201304190850/a

 

The Rattlesnakes are out

It’s that time of year. The weather is delightfully mild in the evening and little rodents are out scurrying around unaware of danger, in the form of rattlesnakes, quietly waiting for an opportunity to strike.

I saw my first sidewinder of the season this evening and wanted its picture as an illustration. Unfortunately, it was stretched out, blending so well with the sandy background it was difficult to tell what it was. He/she was only about a foot long and stretched out like a long J, with a kink just past the head. Her mouth was open and close inspection showed a pink tail protruding like a tongue. She gently rattled appearing more interested in swallowing than warning me. After about 5 minutes only the tip of the tail was showing and her body movements were more agitated. I left, not wanting to disturb the digestive process.

In Joshua Tree National Park there are 25 varieties of snakes, seven of which are rattlesnakes and two of those are sidewinder species. Both sidewinders have the characteristic horns that protect the eyes when burrowing. Both also swim in the sand leaving their signature tracks.

The Mojave Desert Sidewinder is found in sandy areas and occasionally rocky areas. The Colorado Desert species is seen in the southwestern section of the park in south-facing canyons.

Although rattlesnake venom is dangerous to humans, neither the sidewinder nor the other desert rattlesnake species are aggressive. They would prefer to leave you alone if you return the favor. Rattlesnakes have a unique large pit organ between each eye and nostril that can sense infrared heat. This sensitive organ allows them to deliver the correct dose of venom per the weight of the intended meal. Venom is an expensive commodity to manufacture, not to be wasted on humans too large to be ingested. The rattles, which most rattlesnakes have, are a warning devise not unlike the black and white coloring of a skunk – stay away.

This is the time of year to be alert and listen. Should you hear the tell tale rattle sound stand still until you find the snake(s) and then move beyond the strike distance, which is less than its body length. You will know you are too close if the snake continues to rattle; back up until it stops. Take the time to observe its behavior.

Also remember not to climb over rocks where your fingers, the size of a mouse, could be the first object a rattlesnake senses.

If by some chance you are bitten do your best to remain calm and seek immediate medical attention. Cutting and attempting to suck out the venom is not effective and against all medical advice.

Although the snakes are out, they are uncommon and your chances of seeing one are small. As predators near the top of the food chain they are an important part of the desert ecosystem. If you do see one, stay calm, watch, and consider yourself fortunate.

Sun Spiders by Pat Flanagan

It is that time of year when the critters that come out of our wonderful desert may surprise you. We hope the following sets your mind at ease.

Camel spiders, sunspiders, and windscorpions- all these names refer to the same critter, a spider like insect called a solpugid. It is not one of the bad guys. If you dislike flies, moths, cockroaches, earwigs, crickets, beetles, and spiders this is  a secretive nocturnal predator you can learn to love- even if it does have 8 legs and show up in the corner of your bedroom, living room, bathroom…

Solpugids use only 6 of their 8 long and hairy legs for running. The forward two legs are modified as feelers. These feelers, in tandem with the adjacent longer and heavier palps, find, dice, slice and shred, efficiently leaving you no mess to clean up afterward. Really better than a cat for the small stuff.

Our fears frequently respond o looks alone. In our desert solpugids grow up to 2 inches long and look fearsome. In the Middle East they can be 6 inches long. Wow! And they can run very fast- up to 30 feet per hour.

Solpugids adaptively seek cooling shade in their hot homelands. This may explain why they have been reported sprinting along in human shadows. Although this appears as chasing, they are merely keeping up with a large moving cool zone. The two eyes atop their head do not register the human mountain casting the shadow. As an aside, they don’t relish human flesh. No insult intended.

There are 120 species of solpugids recorded in the United States, and most are found in the Southwest. Their life cycle begins in the spring with the hatching of eggs deposited in the soil the previous fall. Upon emerging from the ground the solpugid youngsters feed on almost any insect available. It is these small juveniles that are commonly seen around the house.

After a year the grown-ups are able to feed on the larger stuff, including hawkmoths, black-widow spiders and real scorpions. Even small lizards are within their capabilities. Fearsome looking yes, but hold the broom. These creatures do not have poison glands or stingers. All their predatory work is done with stealth, lightening speed and those jaws.

Occasionally they get indoors, but that is not their preference. They prefer to be outside in the garden where the selection of food is greatest. Many common inset pests would be noticeably fewer if there were more garden predators as helpful and efficient as solpugids.

It was the fear and disgust of a friend that send me searching the web. I was surprised to find the bad rap that camel spiders had amongst our service men and women serving in the Middle East. The size of dinner plates, camel spiders are reported performing gruesome acts too horrible to mention here. (Fears for small children, etc.)

We call them sunspiders; camel spiders is a name that comes from the Middle East where camels denote the desert. Rumor has it that clever insurgents have used our fear of spiders as a secret weapon to frighten military personnel even before they set foot in the country. This has been going on for awhile and there are now a number of web sites that dispel these fears with facts. It is fun to read through all the shock and horror and see the pictures and video- just Google Camel Spider.

Not surprisingly, some of our brave military report learning to love these giant 8 legged predators with a taste for pests that do have venom and stingers. The same is true for many of us living here.

11th Annual Joshua Tree Music Festival

These independently produced music festivals are held annually in the shadows of the infamous National Park. They are two (of the very few) multi-day campout music festivals in Southern California featuring live music. The town of Joshua Tree is located in the high desert of the magical Mojave, 50 minutes from Palm Springs, 2.5 hour drive from LA, 3 from San Diego, 3.5 from Vegas, and 5 from Phoenix, at the entrance to the world renowned national park.

The festivals are produced by a family of friends and funsters working together with the conviction that music is the soul of life, and that art enriches and saves lives. By creating a small, inspired community for a weekend, festival goers enjoy rich and profound positive interactions with other attendees, leaving recharged. The experience is enhanced when embraced in the great outdoors amongst fellow music lovers. Better still in an intimate setting, where the distinction between artist and audience is blurred, and a passionate performance can be truly relished in close proximity to the stage. Over two hundred volunteers and a dozen team leaders hustle to create this unique & magical environment.

The line up features talented artists who are not household names. Most likely you won’t hear these artists on the radio, or see them at other major festivals. An eclectic, up & coming, white hot, have to see them now before they get big type of roster. Artists that are still hungry, honing their craft, and creating unique original sounds.

The festivals are family friendly events, creating an all ages audience. The eclectic line ups draw a diverse crowd of discerning live music fans who love the outdoors. A slightly younger audience at the spring fest; clearly a reflection of the musical styles. The National Park is one of the premier rock climbing destinations in the world. people come to climb and dance. More than half of the people that attend this amazing festival are from Southern California, however approximately 25% come from out of state. Many come for the festival and stay for a vacation of camping and adventure in the park. In these economic times, park officials predict more visitors from the region this year, as folks are more inclined to vacation closer to home, more affordably.

The Joshua Tree Lake Campground is soul central station for the Festivals. Nestled against the Copper Mountains with sweeping views of the otherworldly National Park, this 40 acre privately owned venue is an ideal intimate festival locale. There is plenty of space in the campground including hot showers & RV hook ups. Camping is a short stroll to the lake area and music bowl. Two stages, a world market, and organic food purveyors complete the circle that is the music bowl. Live music alternates continuously on two stages in one area so you don’t miss a note. 15,000 square feet of shade cloth flies over the audience. The one acre oval lake area is surrounded by Amazing Visual Art Installations, Kidsville, the shaded Yoga & Healing Stage, shady nooks, the playshop stage and funky vignettes.

Free drinking water is available in the music bowl. This down home music festival has a complete absence of large corporate banners and sponsors. You can enjoy beautiful star filled nights and make friends that remain so long after the festival ends.

Joshua Tree National Park Art Festival is Coming!

April 5-6-7, 2013  (21st Annual)

 

The annual Joshua Tree National Park Art Festival, founded in 1992, is held each year the first weekend in April. The festival is staged on the shaded patio at the park’s Headquarters and Oasis of Mara Visitor Center, 74485 National Park Drive in Twentynine Palms, CA.  Artists’ booths and displays are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Admission is free.

More than 20 artists exhibit work featuring their interpretation of the landscape, wildlife, history, or archaeology of Joshua Tree National Park and the California deserts in a variety of artistic media including: sculpture, drawing, painting, ceramics, photography, textiles, gourd art, jewelry, and other two- and three-dimensional art forms. Exhibiting artists will have work for sale, and each will enjoy sharing their love and respect for Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Desert region.

Keys Ranch

If you are interested in learning about the history of homesteading and mining in the Joshua Tree National Park area, Keys Ranch is a great place to start. Keys Ranch has a long and colorful history, and the National Park Service provides a fascinating tour of the original property.

Keys Ranch was built and maintained by Bill Keys and his wife Francis during the heyday of mining and cattle rustling in the High Desert area of the Mojave. It was their home and livelihood up until Bill’s death in 1969. Bill is well known in the area as the operator if the Desert Queen Mine, and for his manslaughter conviction and later pardon following a dispute over the Wall Street Mill that resulted in Bill shooting and killing Worth Bagley.

Today, the ranch is maintained in a state of historical accuracy; meant to create an accurate picture of the daily life of Bill Keys and his family. The Keys family was one of the few who were able to create a comfortable and sustainable lifestyle out of the harsh desert environment. Their homestead included a two-stamp mill for processing gold ore, a large garden and orchard and various livestock including cattle and goats. Through careful planning, hard work and ingenuity, the Keys family were successful where many failed.

While visiting the High Desert, it’s worthwhile to stop by the Oasis Visitors Center of Joshua Tree National Park and inquiring about the Keys Ranch Tour. The tour is highly informative, and great for kids and adults. The non-strenuous walk around the historic property is sure to get you excited about the surrounding area, and eager to explore some of the lesser-known mining sites.

For more information about Bill Keys, Keys Ranch or the Desert Queen Mine, take a look at the National Park Service Website at http://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/ranchtour.htm.

How the Rocks Formed

The Joshua Tree National Park is very unique looking as is the desert in general. Probably the most impressive scenery is the gigantic rocks that make up the landscape. In order for these rocks to form you have to combine a multitude of different natural forces such as molten rock and fault lines.

Joshua Tree is crisscrossed with hundreds of faults, and is a great place to see raw rocks and the effects of earthquakes. The famous San Andreas Fault runs along the south side of the park, and can be seen from Keys View. Blue Cut Fault in the center of the park can be seen from the hilltop behind Lost Horse Mine. The fault forms the straight base of the Hexie Mountains east of Queen Valley.

Fault zones are important factors in localizing natural springs. Movement by faults causes impervious zones of shattered rock fragments to form an underground dam forcing ground water to rise. The Oasis of Mara at the visitor center in Twentynine Palms marks the Pinto Mountain fault. This fault is at least 73km long, however it could be up to 90km long. The park has four other fault-caused oases that support the native California Fan Palms. These oases supply food and water to a wide variety of wildlife and point to the connection between the park’s geology and its wildlife habitat.

Geologists believe the face of our modern landscape was born more than 100 million years ago. Molten liquid, heated by the continuous movement of Earth’s crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface. These plutonic intrusions are a granitic rock called monzogranite.

The monzogranite developed a system of rectangular joints. One set, oriented roughly horizontally, resulted from the removal—by erosion—of the miles of overlying rock, called gniess (pronounced “nice”). Another set of joints is oriented vertically, roughly paralleling the contact of the monzogranite with its surrounding rocks. The third set is also vertical but cuts the second set at high angles. The resulting system of joints tended to develop rectangular blocks.  Good examples of the joint system may be seen at Jumbo Rocks, Wonderland of Rocks, and Split Rock.

As ground water percolated down through the monzogranite’s joint fractures, it began to transform some hard mineral grains along its path into soft clay, while it loosened and freed grains resistant to solution. Rectangular stones slowly weathered to spheres of hard rock surrounded by soft clay containing loose mineral grains. Imagine holding an ice cube under the faucet. The cube rounds away at the corners first, because that is the part most exposed to the force of the water. A similar thing happened here but over millions of years, on a grand scale, and during a much wetter climate.

After the arrival of the arid climate of recent times, flash floods began washing away the protective ground surface. As they were exposed, the huge eroded boulders settled one on top of another, creating those impressive rock piles we see today.

Visitors also wonder about the “broken terrace walls” laced throughout the boulders. These are naturally occurring formations called dikes. Younger than the surrounding monzogranite, dikes were formed when molten rock was pushed into existing joint fractures. Light-colored aplite, pegmatite, and andesite dikes formed as a mixture of quartz and potassium minerals cooled in these tight spaces. Suggesting the work of a stonemason, they broke into uniform blocks when they were exposed to the surface.

Of the dynamic processes that erode rock material, water, even in arid environments, is the most important. Wind action is also important, but the long-range effects of wind are small compared to the action of water.

The erosion and weathering processes operating in the arid conditions of the present are only partially responsible for the spectacular sculpturing of the rocks. The present landscape is essentially a collection of relict features inherited from earlier times of higher rainfall and lower temperatures.