Nature Calls
This is one of the stages of my Discovering the Antelope Valley cache-series, which I’ve made in an effort to show that geocaches can be educational in regards to an area’s or people’s culture. I hope that you enjoy, and that you learn something along the way!
Now you may be wondering “What could a wilderness park 10+ miles out of town have to do with the culture of the Antelope Valley?” Well to that I say: Joshua Trees. Yes, Joshua Trees are one of the most unique parts of the AV landscape, since there are only a handful of places in the world that even have them. Now this is probably the point where you expect me to say “Joshua Trees are so rare, they only grow in the Mojave Desert and in Israel!” Unfortunately this isn’t quite true, Yucca brevifolia – as Joshua Trees are called in the scientific community – do not actually grow naturally in Israel, or anywhere besides the Mojave Desert and other regions of the south-western United States. Though we may not have holy trees, we do have the only climate in the world where they grow naturally, so that’s definitely something to be proud of. The Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park became my choice of host for my Joshua Tree cache after I visited it and saw some of the most intricate and beautiful groupings of the yuccas – not actually trees! – that I have ever seen.
Besides Joshua Trees, this park is also home to many other familiar fauna faces to us desert dwellers, including juniper bushes, California buckwheat, Mormon tea, blue sage, and even some of the beautiful beavertail cacti! Though all of these names might not be familiar, anybody from this dry slice of California would know these plants like they know their own backyard. *pause for laughter because wow is that true* The mile long nature trail that goes around the park shows you all of these plants and more, and it really is a treat to be able to see things like the bright pink flowers growing off the lowly beavertail cacti. If you’re lucky, you may even be able to see a huge jackrabbit jumping through the bushes, a roadrunner dashing away after a snack, or even the mighty jackalope! (Don’t get your hopes up on that one though)
All in all, the Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park is a wonderful example of what you expect to see when you think of Antelope Valley wilderness. It’s very likely that our suburban towns once looked just as this park does now, before the settlers of the olden days brought western humanity to the area. So if you’d like to see a little slice of what the Antelope Valley used to be – and still is, if you really think about it – then come on down and appreciate a lovely nature walk and maybe even a picnic with some desert woodland critters.
The park has several picnic tables and shade areas, as well as several portable toilets. Parking is on the street, and you just walk through the little entryway section to get into the park. Stay safe, and watch out for rattlers in the warmer months!
The cache itself is actually on the other side of the street from the entrance to the park, so I would suggest picking it up before heading into the park. It's basically a park-and-grab, but the real highlight of all of this should be the park itself, so I hope that you will appreciate it as much as I did. :)
Also, congrats on FTF for wo1f!! I had no doubts that he would be the first log sent in. XD