Coyote Crossing

Naming the Joshua Tree

Update: It looks as though I was utterly, unmitigably wrong in writing this post. Just so you know.

The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree’s unique shape

Sheep Pass

Yesterday, around 3:00 PM. Driving on Park Boulevard, Joshua Tree National Park. We drive past a sign that says “Sheep Pass Campground.”

Me: You know, I bet you could get a really good night’s sleep there.
The Raven: [near-silent groan]
Me: You

A year full of Joshua trees

Forgive the crass commercialism, and I won’t even mention that thing that happens toward the end of the year with the orgy of consumption and the stress and the Carol of the Bells driving you into a tightly choreographed stabbing frenzy, but 2010

Michael Gordon’s Joshua tree photos

One of the people I met this weekend out in Kelso is Michael Gordon, an outstandingly talented desert photographer. Michael’s been capturing images of Joshua trees that put mine to shame. (Though you should still buy my Joshua tree

Desert rain

This is a first draft of chapter three of the J Tree book, to be read tonight at the Writers Group. Again, like previous chapters, it won’t be here forever, but I thought I’d maximize the feedback possibilities in this new age of open-source

Centennial Flat

May 2005. That’s the High Sierra in the background, somewhere around Mount … (continues)

Joshua tree calendar for 2010

Because the new year looms a mere 95 days or so away, and because the world needs one more desert landscape photography calendar to help you navigate the new year, this blog proudly offers the somewhat grandiosely named Sentinels of The Mojave

Draft Chapter Two: Incensed

[Reading this at the writer’s group tonight. This won’t be here forever, but thought I’d share it. Devoted readers of my work may find a passage or two to be somewhat familiar. The first chapter draft — or intro, or whatever — is here.]

Removed so

Cima Sunset 6

… (continues)

Joshua tree book intro, draft version

This won’t stay up forever, given what I want to use it for, but I thought I would share. I wrote this earlier this week in a fit of writing-fit writing, read it (or more accurately, handed it to an actor to read, and he did so wonderfully well) at

Cima Dome Sunset V

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Cima Dome Sunset II

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Destroying the Joshua trees in order to save them

The soil here is tawny, pale with a reddish cast, alluvium washed down out of the Black and Date Creek mountain ranges, and the Grayback and Weaver mountains behind them. Wind and flash flood have rendered the rock, pulverized it. Soft lava and old

At home

Out on the slope, above the alkaline
and sterile sumps of rivers long deceased
they watch, dry-tongued and stark. They bend their limbs
at angles toward the sky, fists full of knives,
a vulnerable heart, a growing urge
within each nest of blades.

Cedar Canyon Road, July 31 2005

A month before, lightning strikes had sparked one of the worst fires in the East Mojave’s history. 71,000 acres burned in the course of a couple days.

My friend Matthew and I headed for the burn area to see it for ourselves.

The temperature

Regarding the Mexican Wolf

Taking a break from educating the public at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

I’ve been quiet here for a little bit. Some of the reason is that I’ve been busy with a couple of other projects, one of which I’ll be saying more about here in a few

Saddleback Butte sunset

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Dragon Trees and Spanish Needles

One of the steadiest jokes in the plant world — for rather nerdly definitions of the word “joke” — is the degree to which a person must constantly relearn the proper Latin names of plants. Just as soon as you get used to calling something a

Wee Thump Sunset

Slept on the ground last night in sub-freezing temperatures. Woke up surrounded by Joshua trees growing out of patches of snow. Drove with The Raven along Route 66. Ate lunch-dinner at the Bagdad Café.

Best Birthday Ever.

Also, please join me

Ripley Desert Woodland

Snow remains this afternoon, thin glazed patches underneath the junipers. Ravens fly in pairs through the Western Mojave sky. A pair approaches, not seeing us behind a stand of juniper and Joshua. First one and then the other double-takes, stumbles