Origami Paper

I really wanted to post this photo version of Creosote too.  It was taken late in the day, and backlit, so the seed puffs were glowing.  I think it's a lot harder to see the full plant, but I thought the overall monochromatic effect was sort of cool.  It reminds me of Japanese rice paper, or origami paper.  Or maybe a 1930s style quilting fabric. 

Creosote

Ghostly Cactus

We saw several cactus skeletons on our hike. I was fascinated by their intricate patterns.  I liked the animated expression on this Staghorn Chollo skeleton.  It looked like he has some words of wisdom that his still-living companion is craning to hear.

Suguaro Cactus

We saw these cacti everywhere in Arizona, but they were especially thick here along the Metati Trail near Cave Creek.  We also encountered a section of very old and tall suguaro (suh-WAHR-oh) but they were more spread out and harder to photograph.  They can grow to be over 40 feet tall!  These younger suguaro are still pretty old; they don't grow arms for over 70 years.  The scars along the sides are little holes where small birds nest.  I love this shade of sage green, and it seems like all the plants around here tend toward a really pretty sage color. 

Cholla

This was the first patch of cholla (CHOY-yuh) that we saw on our trip.  We were driving through Joshua Tree National Park, which is probably about 1 1/2 hours east of LA.  We were heading to Arizona and decided to detour through the park on our way.  This cholla patch was at a lower elevation, maybe 2000 ft., in the part of the park in the Sonoran Desert.  The park elevation rises to over 9000 ft. at the north end which is in the Mojave Desert.  It turns out that cholla grows throughout Arizona as well, but I didn't know that when we came upon this patch.  There are over 20 varieties.  This variety is called Teddy Bear Cholla because from a distance its edges look soft and cuddly like a teddy bear.  (They're not!) 

Welcome to the Desert

First let me say Happy New Year! to all my blog friends and followers.  We were on the road over New Years, and as usual, I had computer issues and wasn't able to post or follow.  But I have a LOT of photos from my trip which I will be sharing in the coming days.  This one is my teaser photo.  Where in the world did I go???  As a hint, this photo was taken during a drive through a National Park.  I tried this long-stretch-of-desert-road photo quite a bit because the scene was constantly so striking to me.  This one ended up being my favorite because I liked the bold yellow line.