Photo Journal

Joshua Tree

I see my path, but I don't know where it leads.

Rosalia de Castro

View of the Peaks from Panorama Loop Trail

I only had a few days in Joshua Tree, but I realized quickly that even a few months wouldn’t be long enough to see the entire park. There terrain is so widely varied and it’s an enormous place.

You have to be so careful here. The sun and the wind make carrying water and using sun protection absolutely vital.

Joshua Trees Silhouetted at Dawn near my campsite

Downcast Sculpted Rock

Arch Rock and a little skull rock

Rock formations, etched by water over time have taken on sculpted and sometimes eerie shapes.

Rocky profile

The urge to climb and scramble over the rocks is irresistible. It’s like a giant rock garden in some places.

Climbing closer to the sky

Help from below

Some climbers are even more daring. These three climbers belayed for each other to climb the giant Intersection Rock.

On the nose

From below it’s hard to figure out what he’s holding on to.

Almost There - I was relieved to see him reach the top where his friend waited for him!

Profile of Joshua Tree on the face of the setting moon

My favorite times here were in the dark - evening and early morning. The air was cold, but the skies were clear and the silhouettes of the Joshua tree against the skies were magical. I got up early one morning to watch the moon set, and afterwards get some pictures of the starry sky before sunrise.

A sprawling tree beneath the starry sky

Reading Rilke in Joshua tree

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Entrance
By Rainer Maria Rilke

Whoever you are: in the evening step out
of your room, where you know everything;
yours is the last house before the distant:
whoever you are.
With your eyes, which wearily
just free themselves of the worn-out threshold,
very slowly you raise one black tree
and set it against the sky: slender, alone.
And you’ve made the world. And it’s immense
and like a word ripening in silence.
And as your will reaches for its meaning,
tenderly your eyes let it go. . .

(Translation from The Poetry of Rilke, by Edward Snow)

When I read this poem by Rilke, it evoked my feelings about being in Joshua Tree in the dark with the silhouettes of trees, black and twisted against the sky, feeling like I was at the edge of everything.

I was in California for a week visiting friends and camping at Joshua Tree . I’m a little jet lagged, but I’m so happy I got to visit Joshua Tree finally - I’ll write more about the trip next week.

Thank you for being here.

Early Morning Musing

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Racing Sunshine

On Sunday morning

I woke before dawn and ran,

sunshine at my heels.

Sunday morning - The sun rises earlier and earlier, and temperatures rise with it. I try to start my run early enough to beat the heat of the sun; but then I can’t resist stopping to take some pictures - so it catches up with me.

Mornings here are special - the lifeguard towers are not open yet, beach rental sheds and concession stands locked up - and only a few of us are out to greet the sun.

Pelicans fish close to shore.

Kindred spirits try to capture the beauty of sunrise.

Tuesday - Even a dark morning is beautiful -

- especially when the sun breaks through the clouds for a moment.

I don't ask for the meaning of the song of a bird or the rising of the sun on a misty morning. There they are, and they are beautiful.

Pete Hamill

Thank you for being here with me: here in this photo journal where I’m clumsily learning my way, and here on this beautiful, fragile planet.