A Blooming Desert

Darwin and I returned to Joshua Tree National Park for our first hike in the desert since we left in December. A peace fell upon both of us as we slipped on our packs to start out. It was early and we ventured out into an area not often explored by other park visitors. The sun was up but the wind left our skin chilled and covered with goosebumps.

We hiked slow and steady over the ever-changing terrain enjoying the warmth of the sun when we could. The view of the desert expanse enveloped us, we felt alone in a deserted world. The sky was a perfect cloudless blue and the Earth was spotted with soft shades of green, tan, and golds. It was silent, all but the wind as it whipped around the rock formations that surrounded us. We noticed white buds on a few Joshua Trees as we passed them. Neither of us has had the pleasure of seeing these large Yuccas bloom before. The cone-shaped blosoms only added to their peculiarness.

We caught a glimpse of an owl as it flew across the small canyon we were hiking in, an unexpected surprise. Darwin and I tried to place where it landed but were unable to spot it again. I’m sure it kept watching us from its secret place as we hiked off. Only a few minutes after the owl sighting, we heard a rustling in the flora not too far off. I looked up in time to see the back of a Coyote as it headed over a large rock formation. I couldn’t believe my luck at seeing so much wildlife! It pays to hike and explore in the morning when the wild things are still waking.

Joshua Tree National Park has never ceased to impress me. I stopped periodically allowing myself to feel small in its vastness. It seems so easy to just start walking off towards the horizon. The desert’s beauty is so intoxicatingly romantic and yet it can just as quickly turn harsh and deadly.

I watched Darwin move swiftly over the parched landscape, jumping across little crevasses, plants and scuttling up boulders. He seemed to be a natural piece of this environment as if he has always been here. I followed his tracks along with those a Jackrabbit left behind in the sand.