Turkey Flats and Pinto Peak. Joshua Tree National Monument. California. October 12, 2017. Watercolor on paper. 3.5 x 10.5 inches (Moleskine watercolor journal)

Joshua Tree National Monument sits atop a plateau where the Mojave Desert to the north meets the Sonoran Desert to the Southeast. The park is named after a distinctive species known officially as Yucca Brevifolia, to the Spanish as Izote de desierto, before receiving its popular name Joshua Tree from a band of Mormon settlers. Otherworldly rock formations created by volcanism and erosion, cyclopean boulders and outcroppings sculpted by erosion provide a perfect backdrop for Westerns, science-fiction movies and automobile commercials.

Kathie Manthorne among the “jumping” Cholla. October 12, 2017

Traveling southeast on the park road, one finds less abundant plant-life before entering a scorched wasteland at the foot of the Hexie Mountains. En-route to the Cottonwood Visitor Center is a large patch of fuzzy Cholla cactus. Cylindropuntia fulgia is dreaded for its flesh-stinging nettles that are said to leap at passers-by. The trail is well-marked, with frequent cautions against touching the plants. A small group of insouciant pretty young Asian women in party-dresses and high-heels run among the cacti snapping selfies and othersies. As they gambol among the Cholla, a massive SUV arrives. Out of the vehicle steps a very large man in an evening-gown, having a Priscilla Queen of the Desert moment. Three male handlers and female photographer follow him through the Cholla-garden as he strikes poses. His long diaphanous yellow scarf floats on light breezes, its selvedge licking the nettles. Further along Pinto Basin Road a parking-area faces a desolate plain known as Turkey Flats. To the southeast, Pinto Mountain rises to an elevation of nearly five thousand feet.

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