It may have just been the circumstances that brought to that place, but it was really one of the more inspiring places I’d ever been.
And that plaque – that freakin plaque – really got me. Someone had made a peace sign out of rocks. There is (or at least was) a sign-in book.
#U2 THE JOSHUA TREE PHOTO LOCATION LICENSE#
People leave albums, guitars, license plates, fan-made art, and other personal effects. It’s all spontaneous and unmanaged – no one dictates what is appropriate or not.
But the site is covered in stuff that fans have brought with them in tribute to the band. The tree is dead of course, which is sad and was kind of a letdown at first. On a journey of self-reflection, during a time where I’d blown up my safe, comfortable, Baggins-like life, could there be any more pertinent question? Not only was I in the right place, but tree, which had already died and fallen over years prior, unbeknownst to me was surrounded by fan-produced items, including a fantastic plaque that included a variation on one of the most well known U2 songs of all, and the perfect question for was was probably the peak of my adventure: Have you found what you’re looking for? And after a few minutes my car disappeared behind me so it was really a matter of faith to continue. It wasn’t a long walk or anything like that, maybe 20 minutes or so, but there was no indication that I was walking anywhere but nowhere. When I hit the right coordinates, I locked up my car on the side of the road, pointed my phone compass in the right direction and hiked my way into what appeared to be an endless desert. It was utterly deserted, no cars or any signs of civilization beyond the road I was on. I soon found myself in the famous Death Valley (although not technically in the national park) close to sunset. So after asking around for clues and loading up the coordinates into my phone’s compass I drove carefully up 395 north and then turned off onto 190 east. Pretty crazy that you can see the San Andreas Fault in person. This folks, was a challenge, and if you’ve read my post about finding the “taking the hobbits to Isengard” location, you know that when it comes to challenges on adventure trips – it can become something of an obsession for me. AND that I’d be driving within just 20 minutes of the point on the road that’s closest to where it is. And that there was apparently some kind of shrine there that was not marked on any map but the coordinates WERE publicly available online. Skull Rock at Joshua Tree National Park, also home to a Moblin pack in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.īut imagine my surprise when I found out the famous Joshua Tree from the album cover was not ACTUALLY in Joshua Tree National Park, but ACTUALLY in Death Valley. The rock formations and views of the San Andreas fault weave their own kind of magic. The park itself is really cool, and not just for the Joshua trees. Joshua trees come in seemingly infinite shapes and sizes. So when I saw I was passing near Joshua Tree National Park, like anyone who was even remotely sentient in the 80’s and 90’s, I immediately thought of the album. And what teenager didn’t have With Or Without You or I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For on repeat at some point after being dumped by their girl/boyfriend. I’ve never been a huge U2 fan… I mean sure, Where The Streets Have No Name and Sunday Bloody Sunday were big when I was growing up and all that Mission: Impossible stuff was cool.