Joshua Tree National Park Trails Photoset • gummo • 2015-05-25 • HikeArizona.COM

Joshua Tree National Park Trails, CA

	2015-05-25
	29 by gummo

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Joshua Tree National Park Trails

Inland, CA

Joshua Tree National Park Trails

Inland, CA

Car Camping

Car Camping

no routes

Linked

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Partners

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I hit Joshua Tree Nat'l Park to look for more critters before the heat comes out way. I stuck to the south end of the park where it was in the low 80s and sunny.

The park was more crowded than usual on Monday, but on Tuesday it was nearly empty. I started my day at 5am to look for sidewinders in the flats and found one. The sidewinder would twist itself into odd positions after each strike. I've never seen a sidewinder do that.

Next, I drove to Lost Palm Oasis to look for more critters. There were a lot of people and I mainly saw chuckwallas. Normally, I don't see a lot of chuckwallas in the park, but on this trip, I spotted 7 of them. Most of the chuckwallas were on the Mastadon Peak Trail.

When hiking the trail, I saw people atop the peak and the trail leading to the top. I never knew that you can hike to the top of Mastadon before. But for me, hiking to the peaks just to say that you were there seems juvenile. My hiking style is more young adult.

I did some night herping and found a few critters. On the road, I saw a plethora of geckos (too many to count), a shoveled nosed snake, and 3 sidewinders. I was unable to rescue one of them from getting hit by a large vehicle. I tried to use my stick to assist out of the way, but I was unsuccessful. :cry:

But I, in turn, I made up for it by rescuing another sidewinder from near death on the road.

The next day, I just saw a bunch of lizards and song birds. The only highlight on day #2 was that I finally, after 40 visits to the park, found a collared lizard. :y:

I almost ignored it thinking that it was another stupid zebra-tail.

I'm not sure when I'll return to Joshua Tree NP. Weather was very nice but I don't think that'll last.

Highlights of the trip include: (1) seeing a collared lizard, (2) seeing 6 snakes, (3) discovering new herping spots for future visits (4) Adding a western tanger, tarantula hawk, and collared lizard to the Fauna List.

Lowlights include: (1) losing my lens cap

then finding another lens cap in the parking lot

then losing my newly found lens cap :doh:

. (2) getting sand in my lens obstructing the mechanics, thus I have to use manual focus all the time now.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mexican Gold Poppy Prince's Plume

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Black-Throated Sparrow Chuckwalla Coachwhip Shovel-nosed snake Sidewinder Sonoran Collared Lizard Southern Desert Horned Lizard Speckled Rattlesnake Tarantula Hawk Tiger Whiptail Verdin Western Tanager Zebra-tailed lizard

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