Joshua Tree at Sunset

Part 1 of 2 from a memorable visit to a beautiful — and vulnerable — national park

Near the Indio, California entrance to Joshua Tree National Park — September 8, 2025

Many things are upsetting about the state of our government these days, but the stubborn refusal of our elected politicians to compromise and find consensus is at the top of the list.

The shutdown of the federal government is the latest example of partisan sniping and bickering that in the long run does no one any good. And it makes me eternally grateful that we traveled to the West Coast twice in September instead of trying to do so this month.

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The reason politics are part of this “Visual Story” — the third in a series from those travels — is because of the havoc the shutdown plays on our already weakened National Parks Service, which already has lost almost one-fourth of its permanent staff and been hit with funding cuts by the current administration. More than 9,000 NPS employees are being furloughed as long as the government is closed.

Especially vulnerable is the beautiful Joshua Tree National Park, which I visited over two days last month.

Fall is the busiest time of the year as the desert weather starts to cool down, and conservationists worry that Joshua Tree will be hit by vandals who damaged the 1,235-square-mile park during previous shutdowns in 2018 and 2019. The damage, including trees that were chopped down, rocks defaced by graffiti, and off-roading in ecologically sensitive areas, could take “200 to 300 years” to reverse, a former park superintendent said in 2019.

The park is keeping its gates open, but staffing and visitor services are extremely limited, according to an article published Tuesday by SFGate. To prevent further damage, the National Parks Conservation Association has said all national parks should be closed during the shutdown.

As the SFGate article said: “For Joshua Tree and the rest of the national park system, a shutdown offers no upside. It’s bad for employees, bad for visitors, bad for park resources and bad for gateway businesses.”

The Sunset Side

I made a last-minute decision to visit Joshua Tree — long on my bucket list — twice in early September during a three-day break between meetings in Las Vegas and Anaheim. On the first day, I drove through Palm Springs on a balmy (ahem…) 107-degree afternoon before traveling to the park’s southern side at sunset.

Then, after spending the night in Indio, I went back to the park the next morning and spent several hours there before ending on the north side in the town of Joshua Tree, where I stopped at a local motel where musician Gram Parsons died.

My only regret is that I didn’t have the time — or frankly, the energy — after a day in the desert heat to stick around long after dark. It also was a full moon that night, which made for beautiful images the next morning but made stargazing difficult.

That’s something I learned from speaking to a park ranger — one of several helpful NPS employees I talked to, all of whom are likely without a paycheck because the suits close to where I live can’t seem to do their jobs.

Enough with the politics. On to the natural beauty. The photos in this post are from the beautiful sunset and are displayed in chronological order.

All photos in this series, as well as the photos on this website, are available to purchase. To inquire, send me an email or a DM via the Substack app.

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