Our property is located near the northern boundary of Joshua Tree National Park, and we from here look past a Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) southwest towards Mt. San Jacinto. More to the west (right of the photo), we look towards Mt. San Gorgonio; and more to the south (left of the photo), we look across the town of Joshua Tree.

We are actually closer to Joshua Tree Town than this image suggests. We are only three blocks from a paved road, and only a few miles north of the highway through town. We have water and telephone lines, but no connections. Power is about 900 feet away at the nearest neighbor's house.

The land slopes gradually downward to the east, but it is essentially flat. The soil is deep sandy gravel, formed from decomposed quartz-monzanite rocks. The few small rocks on the property are piled up for an old fire ring. There are no washes anywhere near, but sheet erosion occurs throughout the area.

Vegetation is typical of the Mojave Desert Scrub with about 20% ground cover. The main shrubs include Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata), various species of Saltbush (Atriplex spp.), and Yucca (Yucca schidigera); and there are a number of other common plants including buckwheat (Eriogonum inflatum), Krameria, Encelia, Amsinkia, Red Brome Grass, and others.

We have seen few animals on the property. We have seen House Finches, Mourning Doves, Sage Sparrows, Horned Larks, Common Ravens, and others. We have not put very much effort into figuring out which birds occur there. As for reptiles, we have only seen Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) and Western Whiptail Lizards (Cnemidophorus tigris). We have also seen tracks of Sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes) on the dirt road. We have at least two species of small mammals, Merriam's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys merriami) and Little Pocket Mice (Perognathus longimembris), and Coyotes (Canis latrans) are common. Undoubtedly, many other vertebrate species occur there.