Part 2: Joshua Tree to Organ Pipe

The morning of the 15th, we woke up and left our cozy little Research Station at Granite Mountain to drive to Joshua Tree National Park. On the way we stopped and walked around the base of a massive crater, and saw some unique species that fit in especially well there, such as black lizards that blended in well with the volcanic rock. Once we got to the park went on a few hikes, and saw some impressively large Joshua Trees that deservedly give the park its namesake. We walked through a garden of teddy-bear chollas that were very cool, and also saw some massive palm trees all growing together in an oasis. I watched the sunset from the top of a mountain, and then we all drove to Anza Borrego, a California state park, where we stayed at another Research Station.
We spent the 16th hiking around Anza Borrego, and I made plenty of exciting invertebrate observations, such as a tiger beetle, a checkered beetle, an antlion, and honey and digger bees. We went on one hike later in the day that culminated in another palm tree oasis, and saw a few bighorn sheep up in the mountains. I was continually impressed by the amount of vegetation that we saw on our hikes, such as the beautiful wildflowers and many different kinds of cactus.
The next morning we left Anza Borrego and California, driving east to Arizona. We stopped in Yuma right across the state border for lunch, and then continued to a little town called Gila Bend, named after the Gila Monster lizard that is well-known in the area. We spent a lot of the day in the car, but went on a little hike to watch the sunset and then look for scorpions once it got dark. With the use of our black lights we were able to find several scorpions that were very cool and of a few different species, and I was also able to observe a few spiders.
The morning of the 18th, we woke up in Gila Bend and drove south to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, named after the very unique Organ Pipe Cacti that thrive here, less than 20 miles from the Mexican border. These were not the only new cactus that we saw here, as the chain-fruit cholla was a very interesting new find on our trip. We climbed up a mountain on a hike later in the day, and the whole group just sat for a while appreciating the scenery before we started to head back to our vans. We drove a few hours north to Phoenix, where we stayed at the Grand Canyon University hotel.

Posted on March 25, 2018 01:28 AM by cullencsmith