I'm Back!!!

While being away... I am currently stationed at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California for the next six weeks. Today I took a quick two hour drive through the park, stopping frequently to run out and snap some shots while finding sick lines to climb everywhere (if I had a partner.) Here are a few of the pictures I took while milking the last life out of my battery. It's been a while since I've had my camera out and couldn't seem to find the charger before leaving. Hopefully my new one from Amazon arrives soon.
The Joshua Tree is pretty amazing. It is actually a giant member of the Lily family and is filled with a juicy pulp and therefore contains no normal tree rings. Dating them is hard, but they grow on average 1/2" a year and some are believed to be hundreds of years old.
After a cold winter, the Joshua Tree tips are believed to freeze. Sometimes, in these years, the trees tips will bloom and cause a new growth and a split in the branches. Some Joshual Tree have grown twentyfive feet without a single split. Others are an amazing sprawl of branches.
Coating the park are some absolutely amazing outcroppings of rock.



This little bird was fluttering around me. It wasn't until I looked at the photo later that I noticed the small bug it was about to snatch out of the air.

The cacti were is pretty good bloom and there were actually many flowers littering the ground. A lot of these will be dissapearing as the temperature continues to rise throughout the onset of summer.

Life is quite abundant here. I saw many of these small lizards. I did not see a rattlesnake yet, but hope to. Hopefully before I have gotten within biting range...




I start launching balloons on Monday. I can't wait to explore this park more while chasing down the payloads around the area. I hope to keep the posts coming as well.

Patrick