Having arrived at Palm Springs last night - we were looking forward to our visit to one of Califonia's premier desert preservation areas; the Joshua Tree National Park. We set off mid-morning along the I-10 East and entered the desert at the Park's southern-most "Cottonwood" entrance station.

The landscape here is spectacular.

Jaz looking over the barren, mostly flat part of the Southern part of the desert. This part of the National Park is known as the Colorado Desert. The climate is too hot here for the famous Joshua trees to grow. They grow in the Northern parts of the park (around 35 miles away)- where the desert becomes the Mojave Desert.

Jaspal posing in front of the only road-sign we saw for around 40 miles inside the Joshua Tree National Park desert landscape.

We stopped for a pic of a forest of desert Cholla cactus about halfway into the desert.

And then we finally came across the famous Joshua trees. The landscaope changed from being very flat to very rocky - the most amazing smooth boulder formations in the middle of nowhere!

Jaspal standing in front of the famous "Skull Rock" formation in the heart of the Joshua Tree National Park.

Just one example of the many spooky rock formations in the desert park.

The view from "Keys View" - which is the highest point in the park - provides a spectacular view over the Coachella Valley - and a very good example of how the LA smog is destroying the environment.

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