Camera-Ready Inside Joshua Tree

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — We both saw it in the rearview mirror at the same instant. Just as I yelled “Stop!” my husband wrenched the steering wheel to the right and hit the brakes. We skidded to a halt on the berm.

Grabbing my camera--no time for the tripod--I leaped from the car and sprinted across the road to photograph a Joshua tree at sunset. The sky, which had been a stubborn gray for hours, had exploded into a blazing patchwork of pink and blue.

Ralph and I had come here, about 140 miles east of Los Angeles, for a weekend photography workshop offered through UC Riverside’s Extension program. We wanted to combine the class with some camping at Indian Cove on the park’s north side, where every site has a good view of the park’s rocky, otherworldly landscape.

I had called about six weeks ahead for a reservation, a good thing because all 101 campsites at Indian Cove were occupied that November weekend, mostly by families and groups of rock climbers. Our site was small but left us feeling close to nature--so much so that we took care not to bayonet ourselves on the yucca next to the tent.

The photography group gathered for introductions Friday afternoon at instructor Craig Fucile’s campsite. Fucile, a former assistant for Ansel Adams’ Friends of Photography workshops, has been a landscape photographer since 1972 and an extension instructor since ’95. The 12 participants (most Southern Californians, though one man drove from San Francisco) had varied photographic interests: landscape, wildlife, close-up, black and white. Camera equipment ranged from point-and-shoots to more expensive digital and SLR models.

UCR offers the workshops three or four times a year. (The next is Feb. 21 to 24 in Death Valley; Fucile teaches similar classes through UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz.) Even though no photography experience is required, no one in our group was a novice. We all knew, for example, that a hot shoe isn’t the latest trend in footwear but an accessory connecting flash to camera.

After a field session among the towering granite formations, we went our separate ways for dinner. Ralph and I had heard good things about the 29 Palms Inn, which turned out to be a bit tough to find. Granted, we arrived before the peak dinner hour, but the place looked like a deserted western movie set. We were about to leave when a passing guest pointed us to the restaurant, behind the inn’s swimming pool.

There we found an arty dining room with a dozen tables and a bar, all just coming to life. Things were looking up. A friendly waiter brought us cocktails as we perused photos and paintings, mostly desert scenes by local artists. We both opted for Cajun-style albacore, served medium rare in a pool of spicy Creole sauce. A bowl of mini vegetables, salad, twice-baked potatoes, a grilled okra-and-eggplant medley and homemade bread rounded out the meal. We were so pleased that we made a reservation for the following night.

The class reunited at 8 p.m. at Indian Cove to experiment with night photography. We set up tripods and trained our cameras on the dim landscape. Moonlight bathed the rocks, but the sky looked black. Fucile assured us that the camera would record it as blue even if our eyes couldn’t. He was right.

The Indian Cove Campground has fire rings, picnic tables and pit toilets but no water. We skipped campfire cooking in favor of restaurants in Twentynine Palms, about nine miles away.

After a hearty breakfast at the Carousel Cafe, we met our classmates outside the park’s western entrance off California 62 in the town of Joshua Tree. Because we were part of a UCR class, the park waived the $10 entrance fee. Our destination: Desert Queen Ranch, just north of the Hidden Valley Campground.

Even though I had been to Joshua Tree several times, I had never heard of this place. It turned out to be the highlight of the weekend.

The Desert Queen, also called Keys Ranch, started as a gold mine; Bill Keys was hired as assayer and custodian in 1910. When the mine faltered, he claimed the land and turned the surrounding acreage into a homestead with his wife, Frances, and five children. Keys lived here until his death in 1969 at age 89.

From October through May, tours are given twice a day for $5 per person. UCR had arranged a special tour, so we didn’t have to pay the fee, and, unlike other visitors, we were allowed to use tripods.

Ranger Deb Gaunt led us around the ranch, a weathered set of buildings surrounded by husks of cars, rusty machinery and mining equipment, all set against a backdrop of rounded golden rocks. In short, photographers’ heaven.

I found plenty of camera fodder: a one-room schoolhouse, a windmill, porcelain stoves and a machine shop full of old tools. Even a table strewn with broken glass, purple in the desert sun, seemed photogenic.

We spent two hours happily snapping our shutters. The ranger circulated and answered questions. She showed me a bullet hole in a car door and recounted how a neighbor had shot at Keys. (He shot back--and spent five years at San Quentin for manslaughter.)

Next we were off for lunch at the Hidden Valley picnic area, where Fucile gave more pointers on outdoor photography and led us on a mile-long nature trail. Hidden Valley is a box canyon once used by cattle rustlers, a perfect spot to try the panorama method Fucile taught: Take three or more shots by pivoting a camera on the tripod. As if on cue, streaky clouds appeared, adding visual interest to the rich blue sky.

By late afternoon we were driving to the Ryan Mountain trail head for sunset photos. Ralph and I, hungry and impatient with a sky that had turned overcast, decided to call it a day. We headed for the 29 Palms Inn, periodically checking the rearview mirror for color.

After stopping for our serendipitous sunset, we reached the inn and this time requested an outdoor table by the pool. Our steaks were good but not as great as the previous night’s meal. Still, we enjoyed the balmy evening and were amused by a singing guitar player whose musical taste lingered in the 1970s. “Peaceful Easy Feeling” was still running through my head later as we settled in by a campfire.

I thought a cricket was in our tent in the middle of the night, but the noise turned out to be our alarm clock chirping at 5 a.m. We rolled out of sleeping bags for sunrise at the Cholla Cactus Garden, about 30 miles away.

The garden is in the transition zone between the high desert, the Mojave, and the low desert, the Colorado. Heavy cloud cover obscured the dawn, but Bigelow chollas (also called jumping chollas or teddy bear chollas) were worth a few frames.

Most of the group--buddies now--returned to Twentynine Palms for breakfast at Bella Rouge, an upscale bakery and bistro on the main drag. Except for the copper and marble fixtures and the inexplicable elephant portraits on the walls, it reminded me of a cozy farmhouse kitchen. I enjoyed my cinnamon roll, which had a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. Ralph gobbled up his French toast, made from croissants and topped with hazelnut butter and maple syrup.

On the way to our final lesson, we talked about the weekend. We liked our instructor’s pragmatic, low-key approach. Formal lectures were kept to a minimum to allow more time in the field, where Fucile answered questions one on one. To our satisfaction, we had spent so much time looking through the lens that we had not yet read handouts from the first day.

The group gathered at the park’s visitor center in Twentynine Palms to critique old photos we had been instructed to bring from home. Then came our last lesson and a field session at the nearby Oasis of Mara, one of five oases in the park.

By this time my head was spinning with talk of aperture priorities, warming filters, slide scanners and color temperatures. Fucile reassured us. “Seeing is the most important part of photography,” he said. “The technical aspects will fall into place over time.”

I had seen moonlight on granite, golden wildflowers, the oddity of abandoned jalopies in a boulder-strewn wilderness and Joshua trees silhouetted against a crazy-quilt sky. Had my camera recorded any of it? It didn’t matter. The weekend had been a success regardless: We picked up some pointers, made friends and reveled in the stark beauty of the California desert.

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Budget for Two

Photo workshop...$230.00

Campsite, two nights...20.00

Breakfast, Carousel Cafe...15.10

Dinner, two nights, 29 Palms Inn...107.69

Breakfast, Bella Rouge 10.27

Gas...27.00

FINAL TAB...$410.06

Joshua Tree National Park, 74485 National Park Drive, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277; (760) 367-5500. Indian Cove Campground reservations, National Park Reservation Service, (800) 365-2267. Desert Queen Ranch tour reservations, (760) 367-5555.

UC Riverside Extension, 1200 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92507; (800) 442-4990 or (909) 787-4105, www.ucrextension.net.

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Kathryn Wilkens is a freelance writer who lives in Upland.