Seattle to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park! Suggestions!

[darrenbeattyphotography]

Hi all. Just typed this out and lost it. So lets try a shorter version........ Flying down to Indio to visit my parents.... Going to Joshua Tree NP on Friday, my uncle and father went to pre-check out the park for me (which i thought was pretty damn nice of them!) and they stated that the items I might want to focus on, are up North, so we were planning on heading to the north end of the enterance, and working south. Taking photos, but also looking for that "perfect" sunset photo location. Since I get one day, one sunset down there.

 

Any suggestions for Joshua Tree? Anything else particularly interesting in the Indio CA area? I also noted a few posts on Salton Sea Lake?

 

We are heading to Mexico/Yuma, AZ for saturday. Any tips that may help us maximize my photo ops while down there is very much appreciated! Thanks again,

 

Darren Beatty

 

Seattle, WA

[darrenbeattyphotography]

<p>Also........ i was going to bring my tamron 17-35 2.8, 28-75 2.8 macro, and my 50mm prime.<br>

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Is there a need for my 80-400vr and 2x?</p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>As you enter on Park Boulevard from the northwest end, you will climb up a ways and then enter for want a of a better term a fairly long, sort of valley, with outcroppings of high granite boulders scattered through the area. Lots of joshua trees. Keep checking back to the west. Depending on cloud cover, or not, you'll have the hills/mountains of the Little San Bernardinos and the granite outcroppings and in the distance, Mount San Gorgonio, for layers of ranges leading to the horizon. It should have a fair amount of fresh snow. However, many of the trees, boulder clusters, etc., should provide for silhouettes towards evening.</p>

<p>While I know people who have seen desert bighorn near some of the waterholes or "tanks," I'm not sure you'd find the 80-400 real useful. Compression of the distance and some details, perhaps of climbers. However, the Salton Sea and Colorado River areas may provide some birding opportunities.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>I spent a few days round the Salton Sea last February. I enjoyed the bareness and emptyness of it, though the wreckage of the attempts to turn it into a resort years ago are now generally too far gone to photograph well , and the land is cheap there that there are now new housing developments especially on the northwest /west of the lake. </p>

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[donald_kim_lewiston]

<p>This may be too late, but I live near Cibola State Park (Arizona/CA border) which is near Yuma, they have some pretty good bird photography there. http://www.stateparks.com/cibola.html</p>

 

[steveshinn]

<p>If you have time, Anza Borrego State Park (the biggest of all CA state parks) is just up the road from the Salton Sea and has a much different feel and nature than Joshua Tree. Lots of opportunities there, you might even bag a big horn. About J tree, it's really big too and the South entrance, like Cottonwood Springs, is much higher and has totally different variety than the low lands in the North. If you are into old buildings, Keys Ranch, near Jumbo Rocks, is a good choice but is usually only a ranger lead operation.</p>

[darrenbeattyphotography]

Welp. Im back!<br /><br />Boy am I UNLUCKY. Palm Springs/Indio areas get like 1" of rain a year, and I'm there when they get over 3". No but seriously, it downpoured thursday night, and into friday morning, so we went to Mexico on Friday. I knew of the possible consequences of having a dslr in Mexico.... but this wasnt Tiajuana, it was Algadones. Though, after parking our cars on the Arizona side, we were walking up to the border (anyone is free to go to Mexico, no papers, or stops) Just have your passport to come back........ Anyway guy stated that if a mexican police officer sees you taking a photo of a mexican citizen, you'll go to jail. And that there was a american photographer who is still in jail and awaiting trial..... anyway, that was enough for me to put my camera back in my vehicle.... That is after I walked around a bit and made sure no one saw me or was following me. My cam stuff is insured, just didnt want my uncles car broken into. So, so far, we're at NO joshua tree because of rain, and snow in the hills. And no camera in mexico because i value my life/freedom.<br /><br /><br />So, saturday was a relaxing day, weather went from hot to a light shower, to hot to a light shower.... and then we saw that sunday was supposed to be good in the afternoon. So we slept in, and on sunday afternoon, my buddy Jason, and my parents, and I jumped into the car and hit up Joshua Tree NP.<br /><br />What pops said was true. Some tips for Joshua tree visitors.....<br /><br />1. ENTER FROM THE NORTH! The entire park is on a slant. and if you drive from the south, to the north, you miss out on a lot of shots unless your eyes are glued to your rearview mirror. (which I did) because you are constantly driving uphill. Why not drive downhill, and see so much more, so much easier!?<br /><br />2. North is good. South is meh. The northern 20 miles of the park are absolutely amazing. Some of the craziest formations, rocks, and vegetation I have ever seen. There were times when it felt like we were driving through mars, or something creepy. The southern 40 miles are good, but nothing compared to the north.<br /><br />3. They have great camping, and the bathrooms are spotless. Again, camp grounds are all to the north.<br /><br />4. Buy a year pass. If you have a pass, only 30 bucks, its good for EVERYONE in the car. If you get a individual day pass, you waste money, especially if theres a chance you'd be back within a year.<br /><br />5. Temps are decieving. In the town of Joshua tree, and Indio, the two neighboring cities to the north and south of the park, were a "cool" 70 degrees when we left town, and we were 30 feet below sea level, and in a tshirt and shorts and 45 min later, it was 39 degrees with 30-60+ mph gusts, at 4-5,000 feet with pants over my shorts, and a sweatshirt on, and i could barely feel my fingers and ears with the gusts strong enough to move my tripod. But hey, we were there, and the clouds broke for a few minutes, so I popped the cam onto the tripod and took a few shots. Glad I didnt woose out because of the wind, and temps. I got off the plane and straight to work, so i wont see any results til tomorrow/wednesday....... hope i got a few nice keepers!