Most Americans who talk about the problems of “the desert” are talking about the Mojave. It is the best-known, most visited, and most studied of American deserts; but it is also, in an important historical sense, the most reliably typical of American deserts, the national standard… No wonder it is the desert of definition for so many Americans—studied, loved, quarreled over.

–Reyner Banham, Scenes in America Deserta, 1982

Ocotillo in Bloom - Joshua Tree Nat'l Forest - 2011Pinhole Exposure

Ocotillo in Bloom - Joshua Tree National Forest - Pinhole Exposure - 2011