Erinn and I just returned from a brief-but-great couple of days at Joshua Tree National Park. We arrived Wednesday night expecting to have trouble finding an available campsite, considering Memorial Day weekend was just around the corner, but were happily surprised to find the place practically deserted. On the advice of friend and national parks guru Ian Shive, we decided to camp at Jumbo Rocks campground, a beautiful site in the middle of a huge field of giant boulders, which we later learned were made of monzogranite that, in the form of magma, had forced its way up beneath the darker upper crust composed of gneiss (nice) rock. Erosion eventually carried away the gneiss, revealing the coarse, sand-colored boulders below that now make up large sections of the northern part of the park and, like a playground in the middle of a large sandbox, provide a welcome relief to an otherwise barren landscape. After picking the ideal spot and setting up our tent we made a fire and got down to the business of grilling hot dogs, but not before taking half an hour to marvel at the density of stars above and taking a few photos. In the interest of full disclosure, the image of Erinn beneath the stars is a composite of 3 separate exposures taken from the same spot, which was the only way I was going to be able to bring out those stars and get a good exposure on her without using a flash. For more photos and text click the link below
