Road Guide to Joshua Tree National Park
by Barbara Decker and Robert Decker
Double Decker Press
I visited Joshua Tree National Park for the first time with this slim (48 pages) road guide in the glove compartment—no, out of the glove compartment and open the whole time.
What is it about this little book that makes a large expanse of deadly desert deep in Southern California, with only primitive facilities and full of rattlesnakes, so enticing? Ultimately, it's the integrity and care of its author-publishers, science writer Barbara Decker and her husband, geologist Robert Decker. They took most of the 16 pages of color photos, they commissioned the numerous line drawings and trail maps, and they created and burnished every sentence to a finish that matches the durable slick paper.
Full instructions for two day-trips take drivers through the park's high western desert and low eastern desert, respectively. Each trip, on paved roads, is about 50 miles long, but there is much to linger over. "If you are new to this kind of landscape," the Deckers write, "try to take enough time to tune in to its unexpected and sudden treasures, and to feel the desert's elusive magic." They offer their knowledge gently and wear their learning lightly. I imagine this book being read aloud during the drive—the prose has that sort of pacing to it.
The first trip takes the driver through Queen and Lost Horse Valleys, where thousands of angular Joshua trees grow in a setting of white, rounded granite knobs and sandy soil thinly covered with low shrubs. Some of the rare palm-fringed waterholes that dot this part of the high Mojave Desert are also on the route. The Deckers have something interesting to say about each of these things, plus the people, from prehistoric to contemporary, who have inhabited this land. Nature trails, scenic overlooks, old mining sites, and picturesque geological landmarks are on all sides.
The second trip features the wide vistas of the low Colorado Desert, which lies in the basin-and-range country. Joshua Tree National Park straddles the boundary between the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, which makes for an exceptionally rich variety of plants and animals. The Deckers trace the transition and illustrate the typical plants of each geographic zone. There is a refreshing stop at a spring here, too.
For visitors with more time and four-wheel drive, the guide describes four side trips on the back roads of the desert park. It also suggests six short hikes, and it has a full page of suggested reading for those who want to learn more about the many faces of this far-away region.
The Deckers publish seven other road guides; browse them at doubledeckerpress.com. They also wrote the classic Volcanoes, now in its fourth edition.
