Bill Cunningham - Hiking Joshua Tree National Park: 38 Day And Overnight Hikes

Hiking Joshua Tree National Park

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Hiking Joshua Tree National Park

38 Day and Overnight Hikes

Second Edition

Bill and Polly Cunningham

Revised by Bruce Grubbs

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200

Lanham, MD 20706

www.rowman.com

Falcon and FalconGuides are registered trademarks and Make Adventure Your Story is a trademark of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2008, 2019 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

Photos by Bill and Polly Cunningham except where indicated

Maps by Melissa Baker

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cunningham, Bill, 1943 author. | Cunningham, Polly, author. | Grubbs, Bruce (Bruce O.), reviser.

Title: Hiking Joshua Tree National Park : 38 day and overnight hikes / Bill and Polly Cunningham ; revised by Bruce Grubbs.

Description: Second edition. | Guilford, Connecticut : FalconGuides, [2019] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019007887 (print) | LCCN 2019013648 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493039074 (Electronic) | ISBN 9781493039067 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781493039074 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: HikingCaliforniaJoshua Tree National ParkGuidebooks. | Joshua Tree National Park (Calif.)Guidebooks.

Classification: LCC GV199.42.C22 (ebook) | LCC GV199.42.C22 J6725 2019 (print) | DDC 796.510979497dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007887

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The authors and The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

To the thousands of citizens from California and elsewhere, past and present, who laid the groundwork for protection of a large portion of the California desert and to the dedicated state and federal park rangers and naturalists charged with stewardship of Californias irreplaceable desert wilderness.

Acknowledgments

This book could not have been written without the generous assistance of knowledgeable park staff. Special thanks to Joe Zarki, chief of interpretation for Joshua Tree National Park, and his assistant, Sandra Kaye, who provided an excellent review of the text. Joe and members of his ranger staff provided detailed updates for each of the Joshua Tree hikes. The effort they expended to ensure accurate information in this book is both commendable and deeply appreciated.

Our thanks also to all the hospitable folks who provided advice and insights during our treks in the desert. Please know that you are not forgotten.

Thanks to you all!

Introduction

The California desert covers the southeastern quarter of our most populous and most ecologically diverse state. Incredibly, three of the four desert subregions that make up most of the arid southwest corner of North America are found within the California desert. These subregionsthe Colorado (called the Sonoran in Mexico), Mojave, and Great Basin Desertsdiffer by climate and distinct plant and animal communities.

The geographers definition of a desert as a place with less than 10 inches average annual rainfall says little about what a desert really is. Deserts are regions of irregular and minimal rainfall, so much so that for most of the time, scarcity of water is limiting to life. Averages mean nothing in a desert region that may go one or two years without any rain only to receive up to three times the annual average the following year.

In the desert, evaporation far exceeds precipitation. Temperatures swing widely between night and day. This is because low humidity and intense sun heat up the ground during the day, but almost all of the heat dissipates at night. Daily temperature changes of 50 degrees or more are commonwhich can be hazardous to unprepared hikers caught out after dark.

Sparse rainfall means sparse vegetation, which in turn means naked geological features. Most of the California desert is crisscrossed with mountain ranges, imparting an exposed, rough-hewn, scenic character to the landscape. Rather than having been uplifted, the mountains were largely formed by an east-west collision of the earths tectonic plates, producing a north-south orientation of the ranges. Some would call the result stark, but all would agree that these signatures on the land are dramatic and, at times, overpowering. This very starkness tends to exaggerate the drama of space, color, relief, and sheer ruggedness.

Despite sparse plant cover, the number of individual plant species in the California desert is amazing. At least 1,000 species are spread among 103 vascular plant families. Equally amazing is the diversity of bird life and other wildlife on this deceptively barren land. Many of these birds and animals are active only at night, or are most likely seen during the hotter months at or near watering holes. Hundreds of bird species and more than sixty kinds of reptiles and amphibians fly, nest, crawl, and slither in habitat niches to which they have adapted. Desert bighorn sheep and the rare mountain lion are at the top of the charismatic mega-fauna list, but at least sixty other species of mammals make the desert their homefrom kit foxes on the valley floors to squirrels on the highest mountain crests. The best way to observe these desert denizens is on foot, far from the madding crowd, in the peace and solitude of desert wilderness.

Joshua Tree National Park is in the transition zone between the Colorado and Mojave Deserts, accounting for much of its rich diversity of plant and animal life. The Mojave Desert is the smallest of the four North American deserts and lies mostly in southeastern California. Elevations range from below sea level to around 4,000 feet, with average elevations of 3,000 feet in the rugged eastern portion. Summer temperatures usually exceed 100 degrees, but winter can bring bitter cold, with temperatures sometimes dropping near zero in valleys where dense, frigid air settles at night. Plant cover is typified by Joshua trees, creosote bushes, white bursage, and indigo bushes.