Joshua Tree/SoCal Trip – Part VIII – Mastodon Peak, Cholla Cactus Garden revisited

Tuesday, 28 April, 2009 (continued from here):

We briefly visited the Cottonwood Visitor’s Center, which unsurprisingly had much the same information as the other two park entrance stations, then drove a few more miles to the Cottonwood Oasis, the trailhead for the Mastodon Loop we were going to hike.  After talking for a few with a couple from Los Angeles, we hit the trail at 12:25.

Cottonwood Oasis

The oasis area was verdant and full of trees and shrubs, in stark contrast to the rather harsh Sonoran Desert of the rest of the south end of Joshua Tree National Park.  We soon left this pretty little area, though, and continued on a well-worn sandy path, which for its first mile or so is shared by the Mastodon Loop Trail and the Lost Palms Oasis Trail.

Lost Palms Oasis Trail

Another patch of Ocotillo bloomed a glorious red, although these plants weren’t nearly so large as the ones in the signed Ocotillo Patch along the park road.

Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens

A passing couple said they’d seen a pair of endangered Desert Tortoises mating along the trail just past where the Mastodon Trail splits from the Lost Palms Oasis Trail, so when we came to that junction, we continued on the Lost Palms Oasis Trail, even though that was not our destination.

Sarah on the trail

We walked perhaps a quarter mile along this trail, looking intently for any signs of turtles, but found none, ah well!

Cleftleaf Wildheliotrope / Phacelia crenulata

There were, however, a few pretty little plants ekeing out an existence in this arid, mostly-barren terrain.  The purple and green of a Cleftleaf Wildheliotrope (say that three times fast!) contrasted nicely with the beige sand.  I continued to be pleased with the macro capabilities of my Canon G10, although a light breeze made macro work of any sort somewhat difficult.

Lost Palms Oasis Trail

Turtle-less, we went back to the trail junction and headed up toward “The Mastodon,” a rock outcrop that to my mind looks absolutely nothing at all like a mastodon.

Buddha-shaped rock

Midway up the gentle climb toward the Mastodon, Sarah spotted a very cool rock formation that looked to us for all the world like someone sitting and meditating.

Cactus bloom – anyone know what type of cactus this is?

Wildflowers were not prevalent here, however the cacti were blooming very nicely.  The above looks like some sort of cholla, but I couldn’t find any with that flower color in our cactus book.  If anyone has an idea what it is, I’d love to know!

View from near the “Mastodon”

We arrived at the trail’s end, at the base of the Mastodon, and Sarah sat and relaxed, while I scrambled to the top.

Sonoroan desert view

It proved a very easy scramble once I walked around a little bit, and an obviously well-used use trail led right up to the top, where I was treated to panoramic views of the Pinto Basin.

View from atop the “Mastodon”

A light wind blew, just enough to keep it from being warm, and I enjoyed sitting by myself atop this rock outcrop.  After 10’ish minutes I headed back, rejoined Sarah, and we had a light lunch.  Lunch eaten, we continued on our way.

Mastodon Mine ruins

On the slopes of the Mastodon “stood” the ruins of the Mastodon Mine.  According to http://digital-desert.com/mastodon-mine/:

The ore from the original mine shaft at the base of Mastodon Peak produced samples that assayed at $744 per ton. However, between 1919 and 1932 George Hulsey never seriously worked at removing the gold. The mine was abandoned altogether after faulting severed the primary vein.

Black-throated Sparrow / Amphispiza bilineata

A Black-throated Sparrow was the single bird we saw on this hike, and then only once.  I’m sure if we’d hung around the oasis at the trailhead, we would have seen more.

“The Mastodon”

We hiked down on the sandy soil, and the trail soon led through a gravelly wash.

Purple Mat / Nama demissum

A tiny purple flower grew in dense mats.  It’s name, appropriately-enough, is Purple Mat!

Common Chuckwalla (male) / Sauromalus ater

Movement on a rock stopped us in our tracks – a huge colorful lizard scampered to the top of a boulder and stayed there, eying us suspiciously.  This was by far the largest lizard we’d seen in the wild, and it turned out to be a Common Chuckwalla, one of very many we would see on this stretch of trail (and nowhere else in the park).

Common Chuckwalla (female) / Sauromalus ater

As I scrambled up a rock to get the Chuckwalla in better light, I saw his better half, doing a very good impersonation of a rock.  This big (for California anyways) iguanid’s funny name comes from (thanks, Wikipedia):

The common name “chuckwalla” (or chuckawalla) is derived from the Shoshone word “tcaxxwal” or “caxwal,” the form used by the Cahuilla of southeastern California

They grow to 16 inches in length and can weigh as much as 2 pounds.  Their genus name, Sauromalus, even calls to mind a dinosour, which they very much look like in miniature.

Western Whiptail / Aspidoscelis tigris

Our herp sightings weren’t limited to the several dozen Chuckwallas we saw, however – scurrying under a bush I saw a pretty Western Whiptail.

Common Chuckwallas / Sauromalus ater

We walked slowly through the wash here, enjoying all of the lizards, and found a pair of M/F Chuckwallas who posed nicely for a joint portrait.  As you can see, they exhibit substantial sexual size dimorphism (sorry, I just had to throw that geeky term in :).

Mastodon Loop Trail

The trail flattened out, then left the wash and continued toward the Cottonwood Campground

Zebra-tailed Lizard / Callisaurus draconoides

A little Zebra-tailed Lizard scurried by, not particularly concerned with our presence, then another posed for a few photos and actually ran towards us before changing course. These cute lizards have extremely long back toes to help them dig and stay afloat on the sand.

Another unknown cactus bloom

I saw another probable-cholla in bloom, blossoms more orange than the previous unknown cactus, but perhaps the same species.

Common Chuckwalla (male) / Sauromalus ater

Another chuckwalla peeked over a rock, posing for a portrait before waddling off.  We pointed it out to some passing hikers, who were happy to see it.

Mastodon Loop Trail

We eventually came to a junction by the ruined foundations of another mining settlement, and headed left back toward the Cottonwood Trailhead.  This stretch of trail paralleled the trailhead road, and was dotted with interpretive signs detailing the natural history of the area.

Desert Liveforever / Dudleya saxosa

A large patch of Desert Liveforever graced a rocky hillside, punctuated by some aster or another (Acton Encelia?)

Prince’s Plume / Stanleya pinnata

Right as we were about back to the car I found another very cool flower, Prince’s Plume, which has 20″ long yellow flower plumes shooting straight out of the basal leaf cluster.

And with that our hike was over.  Although only 2.5 miles long, this hike packed in a lot, and was highly enjoyable.  Next time we’ll plan a full day to hike to the Lost Palms Oasis from the same trailhead – it’s the largest oasis in the park with around 100 palm trees.

Hike stats:

Distance: ~2.5 miles
Climbing: ~200′
Total time: 2h 30m

Milkweed sp.

We drove back across the Pinto Basin, stopping along the way a few times to photograph roadside flora.

Sacred Datura / Datura wrightii

I’d seen it all along the road, but hadn’t yet photographed it, so when a good patch appeared, I pulled over.  What is “it,” you ask?  Well that depends on who you’re asking.  To native americans, it is Sacred Datura, a powerful hallucinogen used ritually.  To european americans, it is Jimson Weed.  This plant, like many in the Datura genus, contains stramonium, and can easily lead to deadly overdoses when taken recreationally.  According to Wikipedia, the name Jimson Weed comes from Jamestown, Virginia:

In the United States it is called jimson weed, or more rarely Jamestown weed; it got this name from the town of Jamestown, Virginia, where British soldiers were drugged with it while attempting to suppress Bacon’s Rebellion. They spent eleven days generally appearing to have gone insane

Good times!

Cholla Cactus Garden sign

Since we were driving past it again, we stopped briefly at the Cholla Cactus Garden.  Sarah stayed in the car, as her plantar fascitis was acting up, and I did a quick loop through the chollas.

Teddy Bear Cactus / Opuntia bigelovii

The garden was perhaps a little less dramatic than at sunset, but the colors of this odd cactus were more apparent.

Teddy Bear Cactus / Opuntia bigelovii

Teddy Bear Cactus / Opuntia bigelovii

Teddy Bear Cactus / Opuntia bigelovii

We continued on our way back to the house, relaxed for a bit, then went out for a surprisingly tasty Indian meal at Sam’s in the town of Joshua Tree.  At first blush, this totally nondescript business in a slightly seedy-looking mall serves only typical American fare (burgers and such), but in a corner were a stack of Indian menus.  We were glad to have checked Yelp, as we would probably never have thought to hunt for the indian food, and it was actually quite tasty.

One last look from our rental house’s backyard

We did some preliminary packing back at the house, took a hot tub, and went to bed, sad that this was our last night in Joshua Tree, but looking forward to see what adventures awaited us in Palm Springs.

Trip Index:

• Part I – Getting there, settling in
• Part II – Twentynine Palms Oasis
• Part III – Oasis of Mara, Noah Purifoy, Key’s View, Cap Rock
• Part IV – Lost Horse Mine
• Part V – Cholla Cactus Garden, Geology Tour Road
• Part VI – Split Rock, Hidden Valley
• Part VII – Barker Dam, Ocotillo Patch
• Part VIII – Mastodon Peak, Cholla Cactus Garden revisited <– You are here!
• Part IX – Big Morongo Canyon, AKA Birding Paradise
• Part X – Tahquitz Canyon
• Part XI – Living Desert, LA, and home