Saturday, April 6, 2013

Joshua Tree National Park




High on a tall rock
Recently, we drove to Palm Springs. It was about 130 miles, and while driving we saw some beautiful sights. We saw cows up at the top of the hill, and horses in barns. When we were near to Palm Springs, we saw numerous wind mills. They were in straight rows and were spinning. The wind mills produce electricity.









Joshua tree
While in Palm Springs, we went to Joshua Tree National park. It was about an hour drive from Palm Springs. We went with our friends from Israel. They came to stay with us for the week in Palm Springs. They were good climbers, and they climbed  tall rocks with us. We went to four hiking places within this National Park. We first went to Skull Rock where we climbed mammoth sized rocks and looked out at the view of the mountains. It was hard to climb and there were many sharp branches. After that, we went to Keys View. It was a beautiful sight overlooking the entire valley. It resembled the Grand Canyon, but was much smaller  The overlook at Keys View had a fault line called the San Andre’s Fault. This was were many earthquakes took place. As a result of the fault line, the nearby mountains move one and a half inches every two years, and in 3,000,000 years the San Andre’s Fault will result in the mountains moving 100 miles away. 

Next, we went to the Barker Dam. It was an endangered park, and there were many lizards and birds. We hiked a 1 mile loop to the Dam. While walking we saw an abundant number of Joshua Trees and cacti. The cacti were very prickly and we made sure not to touch them.  The tallest Joshua tree in the park is 40 feet tall, and is about 100 years old! Joshua trees don’t grow more than about 45 feet tall. The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert. It's shape reminded these settlers about the biblical story, when Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky to say a prayer.   One of the Joshua trees was flowering a very large cluster of white petals.

When we neared the end of the hike, we went to see a dried out dam. It was built by comboys to gather water in the desert. We also saw petroglphys in a small cave. These were written by American Indians that lived a long time ago. The writings were in all different colors. We didn’t know what it meant, but they probably wrote it to tell others where to find water and food.  This walk was challenging and was complicated because we walked on rocks and it was very hot.

The last hiking trail was hidden valley. It was a 1 mile loop, and we saw and climbed big rocks. We also saw the most Joshua trees and cacti in this part of the park. It was extremely hot so we hurried up to finish before we would burn. As we exited the park, we went to the Ranger Station. By filling filled out a small booklet about what we learned in the park, we became junior rangers. The park rangers checked our books, and then made us say an oath to protect nature. After that, we received junior ranger badges.  I was very sad when we left, and hoped we would come back next year. 




Michael climbing a tree






What interesting park have you visited?

9 comments:

  1. Dear Sarah,
    Congratulations with your new title as a junior ranger. You made very nice pictures. It's very important that you appreciate nature. I never visited this park, looks very interesting and now I would like also to see i but I am not sure if I can climb this big rocks.
    Love you,
    Grandma Tanya and Grandpa Eugene

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Grandma Tanya and Grandpa Eugene,

      Thank you so much for spending your time to leave me such a lovely comment. I appreciate all the wonderful comments you always leave on my blog.

      Next time we go to Palm Springs, we will take you with us.

      I love you, and hope to see you soon.

      Your granddaughter,
      Sarah

      Delete
  2. Dear Sarah,

    Wow what a wonderful fun day you all had visiting this amazing National Park. I truly enjoyed reading this post. When I was your age I would often travel up to the snowy mountains and spend the whole day visiting the Snowy Mountain national park with my family.

    It was truly so much fun as I was always amazed just how so many wonderful wildlife animals would call this place home.
    I was always sad when we would have to leave. For I truly enjoyed visiting this national park as it made me realize way back then just how wonderful nature is and how we need to protect it and the animals that call it home.

    Your photos were great too as it really made your adventure come to life.

    Thank you Sarah you really have a wonderful way of writing up a post which makes you really feel that you are right there with you,climbing up those huge rocks.

    Keep up the great work Sarah.

    From AA :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear AA,

      Thank you so much for writing such a lovely comment. I appreciate all the wonderful and long comments you always leave on my blog!

      I was also sad when I had to leave Joshua Tree National Park. Did you go skiing or snowboarding in the snowy mountains? Have you taken BB to visit the mountains too?

      Sincerely,
      Sarah

      Delete
  3. @ Sarah,

    Wow! You are so lucky that you got to visit Joshua Tree National Park! I was lucky once too!

    Here is a link to my post about my trip to Joshua Tree. I think you will see many of the same rocks and vistas!

    I loved being out at night because we could see so many stars. In fact, we could even see the Milky Way! We saw a covey of quail while there. Did you see any wild animals?

    Did you camp in a tent or stay in a motor home?

    Your nature-loving pal,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

      Thank you so much for leaving me such a lovely comment. I appreciate the time you spent to leave me a wonderful and quality comment on my blog.

      I really enjoyed reading about your trip, and I really liked the video and music you picked. It matches the feeling you get when you are at the park.

      I can't believe you saw the milky way. We were there only for a day trip and therefore didn't get a chance to see the night sky. We stayed in Palm Springs and then drove to the park for the day. The rangers told us we might see some bighorn sheet climbing on the rocks, but unfortunately we didn't. We didn't see very many animals except for lizards and birds. Joshua tree has had very little water and probably the animals went elsewhere.


      Your former student,
      Sarah

      Delete
  4. Dear Sarah ,
    What a wonderful time you*ve had with your family
    and friends from Izrael.
    How beautiful you share your feelings the nature with us.
    Reading your post and seeing your pictures make me feel
    that I*m with you. Best of all we liked the petrogliphs
    in a small cave and the Joshua Tree with it*s biblical
    story. Cactus in blossom is amazing.
    Keep doing to protect nature.
    Love grands Mila & Isay

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear grands Mila & Isay,

    Thank you so much for spending your time to leave my such a lovely comment. I also really liked the petroglyphs
    in a small cave.


    I miss you very much and hope to see you soon!

    Your granddaughter,
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Sarah!
    Thank you for this wonderful post!
    You remaind us all those great feelings about this trip.Keep writing,we are enjoing you blog so much.Elite,Jasmine and ELiana are sending you ther love from Israel,miss you,Jeny

    ReplyDelete

♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★

Steps to Comment:

1. Write your comment in the box below. Please proofread your comment for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

2. Choose an identity. (If you have a gmail account, use it. If not, simply choose "Anonymous".)

3. Click "Publish your Comment". You may preview your comment before publishing if you'd like.

♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★ ♥ ★