Joshua Tree NP

We left Grand Canyon early in the morning and started heading east in direction of San Diego. We wanted to stop at Mojave NP, but unfortunately, we had to decide against it, as it was pouring cats and dogs and we thought that neither setting up a tent nor hiking in such conditions would be fun. It felt very bizarre to be in a desert with all this rain. But at the same time it was very beautiful, as multiple rainbows were forming within, what it seemed to be, our hand reach.

As it was getting dark, we decided to stop for a night at Joshua Tree NP. Unfortunately, it was a Friday evening and this park is located very close to Palm Springs and Los Angeles, and as a result of that we had problems finding a camping place (I believe it took us 2 hours to find one!). But in the end it all turned out well and we enjoyed the park a lot. We did not go for any longer hiking trips, but instead we stopped here and there, and explored nearby rocks, which was lots of fun and reminded us a bit of Sachische Schweiz. I would really love to come back there in the near future, preferably on my bike.

When we arrived at the park it was already night. Luckily there was a full moon on that day, thanks to which we could still admire the bizarreness of the landscape:


And here is a photo of a prime specimen of Joshua Tree caught waking up from a sleep in the morning:


One of the hiking trips that we made was in Cholla cactus reserve:


Here is a close up photo of Cholla cactus:


And its fruits/flowers:


Anna and ocotillo cactus:


Coyote, probably one of the herd that prevented us from sleeping well the previous night:


Cute heart-shaped (beavertail?) cactus:


One of many interesting rock formations:


Skull Rock:


Blue sky, granite rocks, Moli, the lizard, and Monika, the frog:


Ania's version of a lizard: