Mystical Joshua Tree

Getting to Joshua Tree takes me through many towns in Southern California, the drive is mostly freeway and civilization is sprawling with strip malls, factories and fast food joints along the way. There is no sign of wilderness for a great many miles. Eventually it all starts to give way to open desert and there is now a sense that I am escaping the congestion. As I climb into the foothills the Cactus becomes more noticeable and I begin to feel that I am close. I arrive late in the evening the sun is setting and I must find a camp site many are full as I drive from one location to another. Then I luck out and find a spot, must have been the last one in the park. Sun setting as  I bed down. Tomorrow morning I will get up early with the sunrise.

The light is cool and the scene is mystical as I get the first shot of the day. I am  captivated by the rocks and trees the landscape draws me in, but I need coffee and something to eat so my eagerness to explore will have to wait... Soon I am fueled up and grab my equipment for what will be a long hike into this wonderland.

Balanced rock caught my eye, How did that rock get there? It's too large to have been placed? Sitting up as though waiting and watching for something to happen I watch too.

The Joshua tree stands out in this landscape, a local resident of the desert. Each with it's own personality, accented by gesture of shape and a crown of spiky leaves they seem to be communicating with one another. This is a place without much water yet vegetation abounds amidst the large out of place rock formations and fields of sandy soil. It all feels so alien yet right.

As the day draws on, I wander through the landscape the rocks reveal their mineral content with blasts of color. Quartz rocks sparkle like gemstones. I need to know more about Geology to be able to tell you what I am shooting. I do know that red rock has iron content and oxidation causing the rusty color. Yellow could be sulpher, but i'm guessing here? I notice this chromatic formation crested with a cactus plume. Now the day is growing long and I start back to the camp... as I walk, I notice the openness of the sky... the quiet of the space. I stop to sit and take it in, an hour passes... and this is what I saw.
How long would you sit in this place? As I write this I miss it already.