h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Joshua Tree National Park – January 10, 2007

The Joshua trees could have come from a Dr. Seuss book featuring Horton the Elephant or Yertle the Turtle. You look at them and have to wonder what universe you are in.

We drive from the Salton Sea to the Cottonwood Spring at the south entrance in eastern California. Cottonwood Spring produces about 30 gallons of water an hour. It is the only source of water for many miles and helped support gold-mining operations in the area in the Nineteenth Century.

The southern half of the 825,000 acre Park is in the Sonoran Desert. After about thirty miles of exploring vistas and exhibits the landscape transitions to the Mojave Desert and the Joshua trees.

The Cholla Cactus forest is right where the Sonora desert intersects the Mojave. If you touch one of them slightly you end up with a fingerful of painful prickers. They are said to jump out at you for this reason. They are also known as "teddy-bear" cactus. They grow where there is a seasonally plentiful supply of rainwater, in this case on the edge of a mountain slope, where, I suspect, rain is periodically produced by the adiabatic process. The Joshua trees are in the Mojave section of the Park.

On the way out of the Park, after driving 60 miles, we pass though the small town of Joshua Tree, where a disturbed 66 year old man gunned down an attorney, his wife and a bystander two days ago.

The city of Palm Springs has an incredible uncountable forest of windmills set up to catch the effect of the Ventura winds from LA. The air here at ground level is a thick, poisonous, impenetrable yellow smog from the big city 125 miles away.

Here are a bunch of pictures of dead Kangaroo Rats, Cholla cactus forests, Joshua trees, windmill farms and strange rock formations that resemble skulls.

http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/556954446pZBAgb?&track_pagetag=/page/album/goodtimes/roadtrips/&track_action=/Owner/ActionsBox/Slideshow

Awesome, dude!

Thanks yet again, O Master Finder of Viewfinder Views...

Dear Phred,

I am sorry that I read about those horrid treees before you wrote about them. You did say where you were going!!.

Please let me know about installing that fancy new flash software which I have to instal before I can view your pictures. I hope it is not going to upset my very difficult computer.? So this time, I cannot share Xantiefs pleasure at your pictures until you let me know that it is OK to download it.

What I am horrified about is the fact that there is horrid yellow smog on the ground at what I have always thought was beautiful place in the world - Palm Springs>. Is that true? Could it not be something to do with the Salton Lake? Does it smell of suphur?

Oh dear!. I had always thought that Pal Springs was the most beautifully romantic place. As one gets older all one's illusions seem to be shattered!



Christiane. AR1

Thank you Santief for your sympathy,. It is still very new, and the funeral was on the 3rd January although he passed away on the 18th December.

Christiane AR1 <schooloffish<

Dear Christiane,

There is always a small risk, as you know, when installing new software that you may encounter adverse unanticipated consequences.

On the other hand, without new software, your computer may be limited in its capabilities.

Another existential decision...

"In the end, each philosopher, must walk alone." - George Santayana

Bob

The photos are exceptional, as always. Christiane, is there a friend nearby who is a computer whiz who can help you with your downloads? I hate the thought of you missing out on Phred's beautiful photos.

Chistiane,

If you go to my blog, I post a few of the pictures I like best...

http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/

The Macromedia Flash player is benign 'plugin' that facilitates simple animation. My problem with it is, I can't stand reading a block of text with some damfool advert dancing about on the periphery, so I obtained their Flash uninstaller. Installing and uninstalling only takes a moment.

What a strange (to my eyes) landscape. The cacti and trees in the bare looking desert seem to resemble parts of a coral reef or seaweed forest. Shame there are no multi-coloured fish swimming round them.

There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with its life underground

Hi Bob - sounds strange calling you that!!

You are right, and when I was writing it I thought to myself

"You have no right asking your friend that question. It is YOUR(my) responsibility"

So thank you for that quote of Santanyana!

I shall pluck up my courage and see if I can do it.

Incidentally I knew that my brother had a holiday home in Colorado at a place called - as I thought - Tellyride. I was telling my sister-in-law about the map googling -as advised by Xantief - so she has suggested that requesting Telluride might achieve better results. !!.

Wow!!.

Is it not remarkable - sharing all these wonderful corners of this fascinating universe, both above and below sea level - without being physically able to do so. It certainly makes life worth while and gives it a lot of meaning.

Have a great day. Soon you will be in Yosemite. And I remember it in winter.
No!! I shall not say a word about what I remember about it!! At least not yet. .

Regards

CME