Joshua Tree National Park

I made an impromptu road trip into California, which routed me thorough Joshua Tree National Park and Wonder Valley. Because of the governmental fiasco about “Trumpty Dumpty’s Wall.” Joshua Tree Natural Park was closed except the road traversing though it. Please allow me to insert an amusingly fitting quote from a conversation between Alice, of Wonderland and Humpty Dumpty, which gives shocking simplistic, but great insight into what is presidentially happening now.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

Even though most of the side roads were closed though the Park, this road trip was truly an amazing episode in what it is that I do. I became witness to a beauty that will poke, scratch and make you bleed if you get to close, but was absolutely stunning in it own right. The serene magnitude not only pleased my eyes, it conjured thoughts from deep within who I am.

“As I was born a small town boy, I’ve never truly felt any ease of comfort surrounded by tall buildings and concrete paths. I was raised knowing this ease of being, before I was old enough to understand what it was. Now I believe that I had to see and appreciate the opposite. To know darkness so I could better see the light. Now as I travel and traverse all that is ahead, I do so with no fear. I comfort and rejuvenate the me of being as I stand by a cactus, lean on a tree, or sit by a pound. I have found great contentment in knowing that it is nature that contributes in making me whole. It is knowing that uniting with nature puts me in touch with a universal connection which allows the spirit to continue a calmness and understand for the all that is.” – dbA

Joshua Tree National Park

The bleak but amazingly beautiful landscape of Joshua Tree National Park is the point of unification for two deserts, the Colorado and the Mojave as they join together creating surreal geologic features in this vast wilderness in southern California.

The Joshua Tree, which the park is named for is a large yucca plat that the Mormon settlers named. It reminded them, surly after long days with sun and limited water, of a biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hand to the sky in prayer. This is just one of the prickly pieces of beauty in the Park. Amazing granite rock cropping’s that have been smoothed by thousands of years of wind and numerous types of foliage, all of which can draw blood vividly mark the view of this open desert vistas.

And Through Wonder Valley

Wonder Valley is a sporadically populated area east of Twenty Nine Palms on Route 62, in the high desert of southern California and known for the bizarre art installation that adorn the roadside. This is just the aftermath from the dwellers that originated in the area. In 1938 the Untied States Congress approved the Small Treat Act, a homesteading law that facilitated the leasing a, public to private transfer of ownership of land parcels of up to five aches to United States citizens willing to improve the land by developing a residence, business or recreational structure.

The popularity of the area skyrocketed in the 1950’s and 60’s thousands of tiny structures were constructed by eager homesteaders. Later, due to economics the desert dreams faded leaving most of these structures abandoned. There was a cleanup effort in the early 2000’s, which resulted in the demolition of hundreds of the small structures. Today there are still numerous homestead structures, in various states of repair and use, dotting the landscape of the Wonder Valley.

Now more recently, Wonder Valley is still a magnetic draw for the individual, becoming a destination for the artists, as witness with a slow drive and the viewing of the numerous eclectic installations that have been created along the two lane highway of Route 62. - dbA

To see the photographs from this excursion please visit my wordpress blog. The link is on the homepage.