Joshua Tree NP South/Palm Springs/Cathedral City, CA

The week before Thanksgiving we traveled south from the high desert to the low desert to a private campground in Desert Hot Springs, CA. This is where we discovered pickle ball! It's kind of a cross between tennis and paddle tennis. What a fun game, and a nice change from hiking.

An interesting fountain in the center of Palm Springs

We explored some of the neighboring towns while we were in the area. The main streets of Palm Springs were lined with shops and restaurants. There were gated homes on many of the side streets.











Cathedral City was all lit up for the holiday season.

The Civic Center

Street Scene

Fountain in the square

Sunset in Cathedral City

And, as luck would have it, there was a balloon festival the evening we were there. We watched as they laid out their balloons in the park and began to inflate them.

Eventually, the small park was filled with inflated balloons, and the crowd was invited to walk among them.

There was music playing, and the balloon pilots lit up their balloons to the beat of the music.












Joshua Tree National Park South

After leaving Desert Hot Springs, we arrived at Cottonwood Campground at the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. When we arrived, we were greeted by Jeff and Carol, two friends whom we met on our Alaska trip a few years ago. It was great to have a chance to spend an evening with them to catch up before they took off the next morning.

A hike around the Cottonwood area

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this portion of the park is in the Colorado Desert. The low desert is much drier. Some of the vegetation is the same, but there are no Joshua trees in this area.



There were a variety of plants along the trail. The ocotillo is one found in all areas of the park. It can lose and regain its leaves several times during the year, depending on rainfall. Most of the ones we saw were leafless, but this one had most of its leaves.

Ocotillo flower

Ocotillo

Paperbag Bush

A group of palms at the Cottonwood Oasis

This sign was at the end of the trail was a beautiful description of the way the Cahuilla Indians respected and cared for the land.

Cholla Cactus Garden

We drove north on the park road to the Cholla Cactus Garden. There were hundreds of them. This cactus is a favorite nesting place for the cactus wren.

Cactus wren nest from the back

Cactus wren nest

Skull Rock (named for obvious reasons)

Creosote Bushes

In this typical scene in the park there are many creosote bushes. These bushes are well adapted to arid desert conditions and are commonly seen throughout the desert southwest.











This is the farthest west we're going on this trip. Time to head east again. Next stop, Tucson, AZ.