Joshua Tree National Park

Wow - we thought Sedona was amazing, then we got to Joshua Tree.  To use an American expression, this place is awesome.  It really is an amazing place, the park is huge and crosses part of the Mojave desert. 

The park is dotted with the remains of old gold mines.  So our first day we hiked to 'Lost Horse Mine' in the middle of the park.

The road to the trail head;

Views of the mine from the trail;

There's still some mine debris on the trail;

Close-up of the mine works;

;
We climbed to the top of the mountain behind the mine.  The view from the top;

Not sure about the quality of our overnight accommodation;

at least they provided a bucket...


Lastly some a couple of pictures of the Joshua Trees.  We were lucky to see the trees flowering, we're told this doesn't happen every year and when it does the flowers only last a couple of weeks.  

Very lucky.  This is one place you really must visit.