sharp and soft

Pinto Basin Road heading east takes you by a curious cluster in a place all their own. Arrival at Cholla Cactus Garden was shortly after the storm of mid-afternoon, when the sun was high enough to make everything look deceptively soft.

The patch glowed a hazy amber, as if someone had dropped a filter over the desert just for this one spot. There’s nothing else in Joshua Tree quite like it. Even in broad daylight the place felt enchanted; dangerous, but pretty about it.

Beauty and barbs, softness with a catch. That kind of thing. I didn’t stay long; just enough to appreciate that something so aggressive could look so gentle from a few feet away.