Day 2 of our Joshua Tree adventure began with a visit to Cholla Garden – we drove east through Twenty-Nine Palms before turning south into the park and then southeast into the upper reaches of Pinto Valley. Here, the terrain falls away to the east as the desert transitions from the higher Mojave to the lower Colorado environment, and the grand east view into the valley was wonderful in the bright morning sun. Cholla Garden offers a very short but marvelous nature trail that meanders through the area in a 1/4-mile-long lazy loop – we spent about 20 minutes leisurely strolling through the garden. The cholla spines are incredibly strong – Chris stepped on a couple of dry pieces that had fallen to the ground and needed pliers to fully extract the needles from the soles of his boots later in the day. After completing the loop, we drove a short distance further east to check out a patch of blooming ocotillo – we had no idea these plants (trees?) are so tall, some over 15′ high – before turning back west and resuming our driving/hiking tour that was the order of the day.