The dreaming tree

Explore, Gulf News, November 30, 2007 [Layout view]

Pictures by Gautam Raja

Call us painfully predictable, but our music list for the drive through Joshua Tree National Park featured a certain album by pop band U2. After getting a glimpse of the scenery, we realised a collection of 1960s psychedelic rock would have been better suited. And this was before being told by the park ranger to lick, yes lick, our forearms every now and then.

We were entering the protected home of what are probably (along with baobabs) the strangest looking trees in the world. Joshua trees, a species of yucca, are found, not just only in North America, but huddled only in the south-western corner that's California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Prime viewing is at this national park; it's just 225kms east of Los Angeles, but the scenery may as well be from 225 light years away. Apart from the Joshuas themselves, there are wild gardens of "teddy bear" cactii, manzanita bushes whose stems look as if they're made of copper, hills that resemble piles of house-sized potatoes, and plants that smell of cheese.

Dual-desert scenery
The park features the scenery of two distinct, and unique, desert ecosystems, each with its own "indicator species". Visitors first encounter the Mojave desert, 3,000 feet above sea level and characterised by its crowds of Joshua trees (they are eerily person-like).

They were given their name by Mormon pioneers who found that the supplicatory manner in which the trees reached for the sky reminded them of the biblical Joshua. Though the giant yuccas start to make an appearance before the park actually begins, it's only in the Mojave that you see fields of these tortured, petrified giants, that are-believe it or not-members of the lily family. Joshua trees are slow-growing: the tallest tree in the park is 300 years old, but only 40 feet high.

Further into the park is the Pinto Basin which marks the start of the Colorado desert-the land of the teddy bear cholla, or jumping cholla. Don't be fooled by the former name of this cactus, because what looks like a warm, fuzzy covering is actually a dense armour of silvery spines. Each tapers to a microscopic point, and once embedded, segments of the plant easily break off. This led early unfortunates to believe that the cactus "jumps" onto flesh.

Not far into the Pinto Basin is the Cholla Cactus Garden, a breathtaking natural field of thousands of these not-so-huggable teddy bears. A path allows visitors to experience a small section of the "garden", but it's important not to let children run around. The removal of cholla spines is said to be a long, painful process.

Dry as a bone
The day we visited, it was nearly 40°C with a humidity of just 11 per cent. This is why we were told to lick our forearms; the combination of heat and dryness sucks moisture out of the body at an alarming rate. Visitors don't seem to sweat because the water evaporates instantly, leaving telltale salt deposits on the skin. Heat and dehydration injuries are common, hence the ranger's warning, and repeated advice to constantly drink water. About half an hour into our visit, we gingerly tried the trick and found that though we hadn't sweated a drop, our forearms tasted as if they'd been seasoned for grilling. We drank a lot of water after that.

While a day trip to Joshua Tree is certainly interesting, the rangers highly recommend you stay and see the dense night sky. The park is a popular climbing and camping spot, and while many people come to see the eponymous tree, there is plenty of fauna as well. Coyotes, bobcats, tortoises, kangaroo rats and even tarantulas call this area home. As in most deserts, the animals are most active at, and after, dusk.

But day trippers needn't feel they are missing out, because most of the best sights easily accessed by car. Some are a short walk from the parking areas, one of the longer of these being the 1.1mi Barker Dam loop. The dam was built at the turn of the 20th century to hold water for cattle and mining operations, and the small reservoir is a good place to spot park wildlife. The loop leads past some cave paintings, which sadly, have been "retouched" by a modern (but far less civilised) cave painter.

There are also several 2-3 or 3-4 hour hikes-but almost anywhere there are rock formations is a good place to spill out of the car and explore. From a distance, the rocks look soft and almost sandy. Up close their surfaces are brutally rough and though they can badly skin hands, you rarely need to be on all fours because of how much traction your shoes gain.

Prisoners of pop-culture that we are, we couldn't get U2 out of our heads. It was here, at Joshua Tree National Park, that they shot the pictures for their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. Sadly, the tree featured on the cover has died and fallen, as reported by desert enthusiast Brad Biringer on his website Joshuatreenationalpark.net. But even now, every time I see a Joshua tree standing bereft and twisted in the sand, the line, "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for", pops into my head. In the desert, it's easy to believe the trees are singing along. GR

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