Joshua Tree/SoCal Trip – Part VII – Barker Dam, Ocotillo Patch

Tuesday, 28 April 2009 (continued from here):

We woke at 4:40am, had a quick breakfast, then hit the road for a sunrise hike at Barker Dam.  We arrived at the empty parking lot and hit the trail at 5:40 with just enough light to see where we were walking.

Barker Dam Trail, pre-dawn

The trail was wide and obviously well-trodden, but we enjoyed having it all to ourselves at this early hour.  All was quiet, with just a few Mourning Doves calling from the trees intermittently.

Barker Dam Trail

Before long we arrived at the Barker Dam area, amused to see a “No Swimming” sign.  Clearly the water is sometimes much higher than it was on our visit!  We’d read that Bighorn Sheep often drink here in the early morning, but there were no signs of 4-legged life at all.

OK, I won’t swim in the sand

We meandered around the sometimes-lake-bed for a few, then walked over to the lone, tiny patch of water by the dam.

Barker Dam

Birds began waking up, and some (White-throated?) Swifts flitted about from a nearby rock outcrop.

First light

The sun began to rise in earnest, and we had a beautiful view of its first rays illuminating the surrounding hills.

Sunrise

I played with my G10’s panorama mode a bit, although I don’t usually find the panoramas I take to be very compelling (and they hardly ever stitch together quite right, as you can see if you look at the full-size file below).

Sunrise panorama – click for full-size version!

Birds definitely began to wake up, and we stood at the edge of the dam, inspecting the trees for interesting avians.

Watering trough

A lovely Violet-green Swallow posed for us, but in much too low light to photograph, and then …

Lazuli Bunting / Passerina amoena

… a patch of brilliant blue – a Lazuli Bunting (LIFER!).  Forgive the grainy photo above (shot at ISO 1600), but I was quite pleased to see this new-to-me, beautiful bird.

Lesser Goldfinch / Carduelis psaltria

The bunting flew off, and a Lesser Goldfinch came to take its place.  Although I see American Goldfinches quite regularly, I rarely see their “lesser” cousin.

Rocks and Joshua Trees

After enjoying the birds for a bit we continued on the trail, which meandered through a beautiful little valley between storied rock outcrops.  Interpretive signs explained the area’s natural and human history.

Barker Dam Trail panorama – click for full-size version! (Warning – HUGE!)

I took another panorama, this one rather large, as the early morning sun had a nice dappling effect on the ground.  We came to a trail junction and continued straight for a few meters toa hollow in a rock full of symbols.

“Petroglyphs”

Oooh, that sure is some vivid native art in that rock over there, huh?  Not so fast….  From http://www.joshuatreevillage.com/313/313.htm:

These pictographs are not all real! The darker ones have been painted over! Disney was filming the movie “Chico the Mysterious Coyote,” and they thought that our valley would be a perfect place to film a scene.

The original pictographs did not show up on film so they painted over some of the originals. They also made up pictographs of their own. The lighter ones and the originals were possibly made by the ancestors of the Cahuilla Indians.

*sigh*

Ash-throated Flycatcher / Myiarchus cinerascens

After seeing the “Disney Petroglyphs” we walked back to the junction and took the trail leading back to the trailhead.    En-route an obliging Ash-throated Flycatcher posed for a few photos atop a Joshua Tree.  We wound up back at the car about 90 minutes after starting, making for a very leisurely 1-mile-an-hour pace.

Barker Dam is yet another “must-visit” hike at Joshua Tree National Park – it’s very easy (dead flat), and the small reservoir and lovely valley stroll, coupled with informative signs, make it easily accessible for nearly anyone.

We returned to the house and napped for a little while, then, since we still had nearly all of the day ahead of us, and it was our last day in the park, decided to check out the southern reaches of the park, where the terrain is Sonoran desert, rather than the Mojave of the northern parts.

It’s a long’ish drive (about 40 miles) from the town of Joshua Tree to the Cottonwood Visitor’s Center on the south end, but it’s a beautiful one to be sure.  Just past the Cholla Cactus Garden, we came to the Ocotillo Patch.

Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens

Neither of us had ever seen Ocotillo, and we were very happy to see that it was all in full bloom.  This weird plant, neither cactus, yucca, nor agave, but rather its own family, is a dull brown stick much of the year, leafing out within 48 hours of a rain, and blooming two or more times throughout the year.

Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens

The Ocotillo Patch was pretty substantial, with dozens of large, healthy plants towering high over everything around them.

Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens

Costa’s Hummingbirds flew around in a frenzy, gong from plant to plant.

Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens

We spent a little while walking among these lovely plants, then continued south, across the Pinto Basin, and onto the Cottonwood Visitor’s Center, ready for our final hike in the park – stay tuned!

Birds seen:
Location:     Joshua Tree NP--Barker Dam
Observation date:     4/28/09
Number of species:     11

Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     4
White-throated Swift - Aeronautes saxatalis     5
Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna     1
Costa's Hummingbird - Calypte costae     2
Ash-throated Flycatcher - Myiarchus cinerascens     3
+ Violet-green Swallow - Tachycineta thalassina     4
Phainopepla - Phainopepla nitens     1
Wilson's Warbler - Wilsonia pusilla     1
White-crowned Sparrow - Zonotrichia leucophrys     1
* Lazuli Bunting - Passerina amoena     1
+ Lesser Goldfinch - Carduelis psaltria     1

* = life bird, + = year bird

This report was generated automatically by
eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Trip Index:

• Part I – Getting there, settling in
• Part II – Twentynine Palms Oasis
• Part III – Oasis of Mara, Noah Purifoy, Key’s View, Cap Rock
• Part IV – Lost Horse Mine
• Part V – Cholla Cactus Garden, Geology Tour Road
• Part VI – Split Rock, Hidden Valley
• Part VII – Barker Dam, Ocotillo Patch <– You are here!
• Part VIII – Mastodon Peak, Cholla Cactus Garden revisited
• Part IX – Big Morongo Canyon, AKA Birding Paradise
• Part X – Tahquitz Canyon
• Part XI – Living Desert, LA, and home

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