A Snapshot and The Scoop: A Desert Shrub

Swollen with water from winter storms, the ocotillo sprouts its waxy little leaves all over the many arms of its branches and attracts insects to its engorged, cracked, woody stems. Resembling a bunch of thorny dead sticks reaching toward the baking desert sun for most of the year, the ocotillo bursts into leaf and flower during the rainy season in the Sonoran Desert. Technically considered a shrub, the ocotillo can easily be mistaken for a cactus when it doesn't have its leaves or flowers thanks to the sharp spines that cover every inch of its multiple arms. It's during the wettest seasons of the year that its true colors shine, and what an incredible sight it is!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Silver Bell Mine

The Silver Bell Mine, pictured above, is one of a few old prospecting locations scattered throughout Joshua Tree National Park. Once used to extract gold, lead, and copper from the surrounding desert mountains, the mine reached its peak in 1917 and was eventually abandoned in the 1960's. Reports from the height of gold fever showed the mine had low gold value, but rather high copper value - worth about $90 a ton.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Organ Pipe Cactus

The Sonoran Desert might just be one of the most biologically rich deserts in the world. I mean, where else can you find both Saguaro cacti and Organ Pipe Cacti in the same place, not to mention the innumerable other cacti, shrub, and grass species that thrive in this green desert. While yes, technically the Sonoran is a desert, the cacti here get absolutely huge - take the Organ Pipe cactus in the picture above as an example. While not quite as tall as a saguaro, the organ pipe cacti certainly earns its cred as a huge cactus strictly from how wide it gets. Its many arms sprout from one base, focus more on taking up space than growing up high. It's still the second tallest plant for miles, and I was giddy every time I saw a new fantastically-shaped cactus. If I could grow them where I live you bet your bottom dollar I'd have a yard full of these babies!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Palm Tree Oasis

Palm trees and cottonwoods are not exactly what you might expect to see in one of the driest deserts in the country, but it's no mirage. Surrounding a natural spring, a dozen palm trees and a few hardy cottonwoods populated a small, sheltered depression located in the lower elevations of Joshua Tree National Park. Walking among the palm trees, allowed to grow wild and therefore unmaintained with their palm fronds still attached, was like walking into a jungle. Even in the winter the topmost fronds were vibrant green, and the soft bubbling of the hidden spring echoed through the small pocket of stone and wood. One of few natural springs in the area, the oasis attracts plants and animals alike who need the water to survive the harsh desert climate.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Ohio & Erie Canal, An East Coast Epic Story

No longer in use, the remnants of the Ohio & Erie Canal preserved in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, is an overgrown yet potent reminder of America's past. Once the main mode of the transportation of goods, livestock, and sometimes even people, canals throughout the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions served their purpose in providing safe, accessible ways to move supplies in controllable fashion, without having to worry about the pitfalls or meandering direction of the local rivers. Locks strategically placed in intervals helped keep the canal levels steady, and special boats built to fit exactly within the confines of the narrow canal were towed along by mule teams on dry ground. It's rather startling to see how ingenious people can be if given enough time and motivation, and the canal system still around today stands in as proof of human tenacity.