Howdy, friends. It's Glenn with the Cactus Atlas.
Today I'm about to explore Joshua Tree National Park for the first time.
I'm just gonna be making a lot of stops along the way and just taking as much as I can on this first impression.
[Music]
I'm gonna take a turn in here.
It's our first sign of something I think called Split Rock.
Not even sure what this is to be honest.
A lot of these roads I know are gravel or sandy but
I think most of them are passable for two-wheel drive like this car
that I currently find myself in.
Looks like I'm not the only one that had an idea to come
seek this out today.
Is that not a split rock?
I don't know about you but I think that qualifies
for a split rock.
It's kind of a prominent feature here too.
It kind of makes sense but I'm going to go peek over there and see if there's like a
sign or something that says where that trail over there that I see people coming back on goes to.
Maybe there's an even larger split rock than that one.
They do give you a map of the park and a brochure when you come in but it's not that terribly detailed.
It doesn't have any information about the hikes here or anything.
A lot of the stuff I think is
just short stuff where you're not gonna walk too far,
however,
this trail looks like it's two miles total
and it's a bighorn sheep zone.
Let's go take a peek up here at the very least.
There are many split rocks here.
Oh! I bet that's the split rock. You see that?
Which one do I choose? [Music]
Here's what we're gonna do.
There are some other more popular sites here that I want to take you guys to
so I'm gonna pass on this discovery trail here
and I'll leave the mystery alone for now which is Split Rock
the split rock of the picnic area
or that split rock behind me.
Yeah, this park's a little difficult because yeah, I always, like...
So far I've had no service for my phone at all.
So I can't look things up
and the map didn't have as much info in it as I thought
so here I am again your unprepared tour guide.
But in all fairness, I had to do a lot of research for other things on this trip.
I'm a human my time is limited.
Okay, so I'm taking the road now that would take you out to Interstate 10.
I think it's quite a ways to get there but there is one stop
that I want to see here called Arch Rock
and what I'm gonna then do is turn around and head back over to the other side of the park
that I want to show you guys some things.
So I think that's just the general plan to start.
Now there are other cool sites that I'm gonna try to go see at a different time of day
out this way so if you're familiar with the park and wondering why I'm not gonna go see everything
down this ways, it's because of that.
I'm just trying to save certain things for more ideal lighting conditions since I'm out here
smack dab in the middle of the day.
Alright, I don't have any stats or any knowledge of this trail
other than what I think it's gonna look like when we get there
but there is a sign over this way that should educate us about that.
Still looking for info
but really it's this tiny loop right here.
That's what we're doing.
Always good advice to follow. Not just today but on any day.
Basically, the story is don't do what I do.
Don't come to these really hot deserts in the middle of summer in the middle of the day.
although today's actually surprisingly pleasant. It's not too bad.
There's a nice constant breeze which is not ideal for filming video as you guys know
but also very humid so I don't know what's up with the humidity today
but it's pretty bad. It is the monsoon season in the southwest.
Speaking of the monsoons...
I'm wondering if the monsoon rains have reached out this ways and
are responsible for some of these beautiful wildflowers that are dotting the trail here.
Just a yellow landscape.
Like the yellow brick road.
While Joshua trees are visible here like the small one in front of me,
seems like there's more yucca, like this type of yucca
and these smaller ones in this area.
[Music]
Wow. I find myself alone now out amongst these boulders
and all these yuccas and occasional Joshua trees and definitely creosote.
Some of these are signatures of the Colorado Desert.
Still have not found our arch yet
but boy is this a sight.
[Music]
Okay, there's only one thing left to do
and that's to thread the needle.
Heck yeah, I am. Threading that needle.
Look at that. Another needle threaded and marked off the list.
Joshua Tree National Park.
[Music]
Some of you out there will get the joke... The back side of water.
If you do, I give you the back side of the arch
Okay, well that was pretty interesting actually.
I would say that definitely exceeded my expectations.
For some reason, I thought it was going to be a smaller arch.
I don't know where I got that from.
Maybe I was looking at a different picture of something else.
In addition to the arch being spectacular, this general area is beautiful
but I know there are many more areas like this to be found in the park so
so we gotta hit on the road. We'll find some more.
Oh! Back in the car and the nice air conditioning.
It is warm out there. The temperature reads 95 degrees right now.
Feels hotter than that. It certainly is really humid.
Yeah, that arch... That was wonderful. That was... That really was awesome.
Awesome photo opportunity and today it wasn't crowded.
I hear that's a popular spot but that's why you come out at two in the afternoon
in the middle of summer are to avoid the people.
There were a couple people but I pretty much had that place to myself as long as I needed it
and then I encountered another couple on the way out.
They saw me filming too and they were kind of waiting for me to finish which was awesome of them.
Anyway, we are now off to head into the heart of the park
and seek out some new spots to see.
Alright, I've parked, and now it's our turn to seek out Skull Rock.
I see people kind of just climbing all over the rocks in general but
this might be one of those Instagram places where you gotta wait your turn.
[Music]
I think poking right above the tree is the top of the skull and the two eye sockets.
Right here.
I think that's Skull Rock. I see people playing up on the rocks.
Alrighty, I'm making my way over to Skull Rock.
[Music]
Ladies and gentlemen, Skull Rock.
[Music]
I think I found a rare moment where I got this place to myself.
Some folks were leaving right as I came
and I got to set up my camera and get some cool footage.
I mean there are other folks kind of trickling in here but
yeah, this is pretty neat.
It's worth a stop I would say.
The landscape around here is quite fantastic too. [Music]
The moments to yourself though don't last forever.
Rightfully so. This is to be shared.
That was really cool. I really enjoyed that a lot.
There's another little discovery trail
over here.
I've seen people walking from this way but...
Oh and then a sign about wood rats.
I wonder if all the stuff there are wood rat burrows.
I'd say I got here right on time. I love it when things work out this way.
i don't think i'd be able to get the place to myself
for a while.
Nice.
I ain't kidding. That was getting really full, like, right when I left.
People were starting to have to park in, like, little overflow areas and things
down the road and they were waiting for me to get out of my spot.
I got there just at the right time.
I just wanted to pull over really quick and check out one of these campsites. This is site 91.
I didn't stop at 91 for any particular reason.
It just happened to be the one where I stopped.
Very similar to a lot of the campsites here.
This one's right up against the rocks.
Yeah, this is a must-do.
There's lots of campgrounds spread all throughout Joshua tree here.
This is by means not the only one and all of them seem similar
where they're all up against the rocks like this. This is nice.
If we walk up this way
we will find another campsite it looks like.
Let's see... a fire ring up here.
This would be cool to get these two campsites with some friends or something.
I like this one because it's back away from the road a little bit.
Roads right down there
but you get a little bit more privacy in this campsite, it looks like.
There are tons. I think I saw a sign pointing to like sites something through 70 something.
So I mean... [Laughter]
This is just the tip of the iceberg I'm showing you.
Yeah, I want to come out here, like, sometime soon
while it's still warm during the day and maybe it deters people but before the
prime season which I think is October through May
if I remember correctly.
I imagine it's probably very difficult to find spots at that time of the year.
We'll have to try sometime though because this is awesome.
Wow. Okay, I think I referred to a section as the heart of the park earlier.
I take it all back. I think this is the heart of the park.
There's no shortage of uh beautiful scenery around this place.
This to me is the ideal part of Joshua tree.
Those really beautifully weathered boulders and no shortage of Joshua trees at all.
This is a spectacular landscape that I completely underestimated, to be honest.
I did not think it was this beautiful before I came here.
This area here is called the Hall of Horrors. It's right off the main road.
I just want to make a really quick stop here.
I'm actually trying to make another video that features this place for a special reason.
A kind of not so secret secret but a little bit of a secret that I don't
think most people are aware of but I'm going to save that for something else.
This area in particular, I really like just because it's got some
really awesome Joshua trees.
Lots of them. Thousands of them all over the place here.
It's worth stopping here to really get an up-close look at these things.
Like this one.
I mean that thing is really big.
[Music]
Well, good morning, and through the magic of time travel we have
hit the road the following day. The following morning.
I wanted to save this for last.
I'm actually heading out towards the southern exit of the park
where we're gonna hit up Interstate 10 to get back to Phoenix but I wanted to cut through
this part of the park to show you guys the differences between the two major deserts
that collide in Joshua tree.
We've been in the higher elevations in the high desert, the Mojave Desert,
where we saw the Joshua trees but now we're descending through the Colorado Desert
and you really see things transition very quickly.
Everything we saw back there is now a distant memory.
This is really amazing. This last stop exists in the Colorado Desert.
I wanted to get at least one thing filmed there to show you guys the differences and
we should be there shortly. Well, for you you'll be there almost instantly.
[Music]
Alright, leaving the bees behind for a moment.
We're here at the Cholla Gardens at Joshua Tree National Park
and I really wanted to see this.
I honestly, honest... I was like this is gonna be okay whatever.
I got cholla all over where I live but this is different, folks.
This is quite the scene.
Just look at those mountains in the background.
And just how huge and vibrant and plentiful these cholla are here.
[Music]
Sometimes you'll hear these referred to as jumping cholla.
As if the little arms of these things will jump off and latch on to you.
That's not true. That would be frightening if that were true.
What that really means... I mean it doesn't take much if you just barely rub
up against that those things will stick in your clothes and your skin with no problem.
Anyway, let's continue onward with our cholla party.
I need to be careful and watch where I'm walking here very very much so.
I don't think you'd want to mess around here, man.
Or someone should come up with a new sport
where you put a blindfold on,
you spin someone around a few times,
and then you make them sprint as fast as they can through here
only relying on the force to avoid running into a cholla.
That would be amazing.
That's what Yoda should have done with Luke in Empire Strikes Back.
The Cholla Cactus Garden. Ta da!
My last stop here at Joshua Tree National Park heading on the way out.
I'm bummed but this is the best way to end it I would say.
Yeah, this is something else.
This whole thing has been something else.
Thanks for joining me while I got these bees swarming around me.
Bye.
[Music]