If You Have to be Stuck Somewhere, It Might As Well Be Here

I mentioned in yesterday's post about the engine worship ritual method of fixing broken down cars. I didn't realize that Mrs. Geotripper was playing the anthropologist yesterday and taking pictures. As some of you may know, the Engine Ritual is a highly structured approach to appealing to the car gods to make a car run again. All the men in the group (this is a religious issue, not a sexist issue; I'm told by Mrs. Geotripper that women look for the trouble-shooting section of the car manual) must gather around the open hood of the car. They form a semi-circle with the high priest (the elder)in the center, and the car's owner closest to the door on the driver's side (only the driver is allowed to turn the key). Each in turn murmurs the chant to the gods, which starts out as "Did you try...", followed by leaning over into the engine and jiggling something. The gods are rather easily insulted, so the ritual rarely works, but when you are stuck anything is worth a try.

This is a largely western European tradition, but I was on reservation land, so it turns out that after the others gave up and left, I was paid a visit by a mysterious Native American shaman (the truck he drove was labeled "ranger". He considered me with a philosophical stare (it was 5 PM and he was considering whether this tourist was going to cause him to miss dinner). He looked at the engine and said (in that mysterious spiritual connection voice) "Did you try unlocking the transmission with the little switch next to the gearshift?". Voila! It unlocked the transmission! But the car still wouldn't start, but at least we had made progress.

In the end, we solved the problem in the age old method familiar to all who work with technology: "Is the broken thing plugged in?". In this case, I said "Let's try the jumper cables" just to see what would happen. Somehow the supplication and desperation in my voice appeased the car gods and the car started.

So we were delayed a day, and my car has a new battery this morning (I don't get it, the car had the original battery and only 114k on the odometer). We are moving once again! In the meantime, Mrs. Geotripper snapped a few other shots while we were deep in the Grand Canyon. Enjoy!

 Above is a great shot of the Great Unconformity (across the middle of the picture). The rock in the lower half is the 1.7 billion year old granite and gneiss that was once a mountain range but was reduced to a plain over hundreds of millions of years. The horizontal layers of the Tapeats sandstone can be seen immediately above. The Redwall limestone forms the higher cliffs.

 Diamond Peak is a large block caught between the Hurricane and Three Springs faults.

And a Beavertail Cactus bloom...

On to more adventures! Will post when I can!

Springtime in the California Desert: Miscellany of Life at Joshua Tree

Wrapping up a week of posts on Joshua Tree National Park, I am offering up a miscellany of life at the unique park in Southern California. A visit in the middle of May is a bit past the height of spring bloom, but there were a few flowers left to enjoy, no doubt assisted by the cool spring. It certainly didn't feel like summer out there.

One of the most dramatic flowers we saw was the ocotillo, a Colorado Desert species that lives in the lower elevations of the park. The ocotillos near Cottonwood Springs were bright with color.

One of the oddest corners of the park is the Cholla Garden at the western end of the Pinto Basin. Chollas are one of the most viciously defended plants one will ever come across. The thorns of the plant are hooked in such a way that if you brush against it, the branch will break off and stick to your skin, by the painful thorns. When you try to brush it off, the thorns stick to your hand. A comb is a vital piece of hiking equipment when hiking in cholla country.

The tendency to break off, besides leading to the "jumping" legend, is also an efficient way of propagating the species. The broken branches can sprout when they get dropped off at a new location.

In most places of the lower desert of Joshua Tree the chollas are widely dispersed, but at Cholla Garden, the chollas are growing in a nearly pure stand, probably due to perfect soil conditions.

Despite the nasty reputation, the Jumping Cholla has a beautiful flower, as can be seen below.

There were a lot of diminutive flowers to be found across the desert, one of which I didn't have any resources to identify. Any help out there?

No problem identifying this one, though. The beavertail cactus is found all over, and the blooms are distinctive...

The rich vegetation was bringing out all manner of insects and birds and reptiles. At the south entrance of the park, I caught one I've never noticed before. It turns out to be a gnatcatcher, perhaps the Blacktailed or California species.

The presence of flowers meant rich time for the hummingbirds, not a species I usually associate with the desert. I saw this one near the Barker Dam trailhead.

There are the usual reptiles. This lizard was well-camouflaged at the base of a fan palm at Cottonwood Springs. I'm assuming a Western Fence Lizard, but will appreciate corrections.

Finally, a mystery beast from the desert. I saw this...something or another...walking across the desert in the Pinto Basin. I thought some kind of wasp from the size, but I haven't a clue what it really is or what that...thing...is on its back. Anyone want to pitch in here?