Beaten and blown by the wind - trampled in dust | The Joshua Tree National Monument

photo credit- Irv Dierdorff
May 23, 1998


Elevation Tour icon near The Tree.
March 30, 2003 * 3:24 pm PST (c) joshuatreenationalpark.net Brad Biringer 1999-2005


Photo credit- © Chris Wessling 2001
February 18, 2001


Photo credit: © Chris Wessling 2001
February 18, 2001

Brad Biringer has put together a photo essay of two separate visits to California's Joshua Tree National Monument where he took some stunning pictures of the Joshua Tree before and after it fell (yes, unfortunately it is no longer...) If you want to see some amazing pictures of the 'official' Joshua Tree, visit Brad's site here.

Here's an excerpt:

I have visited Joshua Tree National Park five times in the past five years. I lived in Southern California for 13 years growing up as a teenager. I never experienced the vast beauty of the deserts until the day I left California to move to Florida. How ironic.
Driving east on I-10 from LA, I was struck by the calmness, the serenity, the open spaces of the landscape in the lower desert. Just past Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley, I saw a road sign pointing to Joshua Tree National Monument. I was curious. I had to explore this area briefly since my favorite band U2 titled an album after this desert vegetation. I pulled off the highway and headed north toward the southern entrance (called the Cottonwood Entrance) of the monument.
I was in awe.
The jagged mountains at the southern border created a fortress-type barrier to the flatlands that lay just past the entrance. The flattish plateau, part of the Colorado Desert, extended for dozens of miles, gradually gaining altitude as it eventually merged with the Mojave Desert. Although I drove only a few miles into the monument, I knew -- no, I promised myself -- that I would return someday when I had the time and resources to explore this wonderland. That was August of 1990.