JOSHUA TREE Approximately two hundred and thirty kilometres east of Los Angeles and close to Palm Springs is the Joshua Tree National Park. Founded in1994 this nature preserve near to the Little San Bernardino Mountains covers an area of around two thousand square kilometres. It consists of two different types of desert. In the southern part, the Sonora Desert extends to the neighbouring state of Arizona. The northern section of the park forms part of the Mojave Desert and, being in California, is located within a cooler climatic zone a thousand metres above sea level. Even its rock can be divided into two different geological forms. The powerful, dark scree mountains are called Pinto Gneis. The distinctly bright rock of the Monzogranite is the opposite of the Pinto Gneis that can be found in six different mountain ranges within the national park. The bulbous roots of the Joshua Tree were used by the Serrano Indians. Chopped and pounded they were transformed into soap, and string, mats and baskets were made from the plant’s leaves. At the end of the 19th century when the gold mines in the northern part of California had been abandoned, the region’s rocky terrain became a focus of attention. Gold diggers began to travel to the south of the State and in 1865 the precious metal was discovered in this region. The most successful gold digging area was Lost Horse Mine in the foothills of the Little San Bernardino Mountains. Each evening, fantastic sunsets cover this precious, untouched world with a fabulous light while the landscape becomes a captivating, blurred silhouette. When this colourful spectacle of Nature takes place the day draws to an end and the breeze takes a stroll across the vast expanses of the desert.