A Quick Study of Joshua Tree's Wild Side

Nature classes in the national park and a quirky inn nearby provide a nice springtime break.

By Rosemary McClure, Times Staff Writer
12:00 AM PST, December 31, 2005

The line of hikers snaked up the side of the mountain, everyone cautiously following the leader over rugged, rocky terrain. It reminded me of a fourth-grade field trip, but Mrs. Brennan's class was never like this.

"Dar, did you see this one?" a hiker called out, pointing at the ground.

"No, let me look," ranger Dar Spearing replied, hurrying back down the mountain to the hiker's side and crouching on the ground with an intent expression on his face. "Oh, I'm so glad you pointed that out," he said. "Those are Canterbury bells. Aren't they a wonderful color?"

The hikers clustered around him for a look at the flowers -- delicate, deep blue blossoms that were an incongruous sight in the parched, boulder-strewn landscape. There were a few ahs and camera clicks, and then we were off again, in search of other mountainside surprises.

"Wildflower Wanderings: The Beauty of Spring Blooms" was our Saturday class. It was among 21 weekend field courses scheduled this spring by the Desert Institute, an arm of the nonprofit Joshua Tree National Park Assn.

Friends Ted and Dorothy joined me two weeks ago for the class, which began with a three-mile morning hike to Fortynine Palms Oasis at the northern edge of Joshua Tree National Park. Like most everyone in our group, we hoped to see carpets of flowers. It wasn't to be.

"We keep having photographers call and ask if it's happened yet -- if the flowers are out," said Isabel Erickson, a park volunteer who helped coordinate the class. "We say, 'Well, if you look hard, you'll find them.' "

Despite the drenching the Los Angeles area received a few weeks ago, the desert hasn't had enough rain to fuel a bumper crop of wildflowers.

Even without the rain, flower seekers who look closely can see spots of color in tiny cracks in rocks, nestled along the side of a wash, in nooks and crannies along the trail. Bright yellow bladderpod, tiny white desert pincushion, giant red ocotillo.

Spearing was a font of energy, bounding along the trail and telling us about Joshua Tree's harsh environment and the plants and animals that live there.

Besides the plants, we saw chuckwallas and lizards, ravens and kangaroo rats.

"Over there! Over there!" one classmate yelled excitedly as we rounded a turn. "What's that black-headed lizard?"

"A black-headed lizard," Spearing said matter-of-factly. Everyone laughed.

Our class ($45 a person) was completed in one day, but many Desert Institute programs are two or three days. Remaining spring classes, which run through May 18, cover topics such as desert photography, reptiles and amphibians, and edible plants. More classes are planned for the fall semester.

After six hours of hiking and flower prowling, we were glad we had made reservations at a small inn in the town of Joshua Tree. We had heard good things about Spin and Margie's Desert Hide-a-Way. Funky, someone said. Eclectic, someone else said. It is both, with a little Santa Fe, a little Morocco, a little Mexico and a slice of '50s memorabilia to round things out.

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