[email protected]
Mon, 14 Dec 1998 09:28:14 -0500
Just wanted to say 'thank you' to all those who chipped in little tid-bits
of information for my search.
The Tree is alive and well. My buddies and I had a blast searching for the
Tree and it was an exhilarating experience. Words really can't describe
the feeling a huge fan has once he/she finds the Tree. It was all I
thought it would be and more.
We stopped at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley (where the J-Tree cover was
shot) and took some pics. That was the first of several deja-vous we
experienced that day. I've seen the cover and other pics sooo many times
that I had felt like I had already been there before. Some of the other
tourists were looking at us a bit strangely as we stood at the point with
our Joshua Tree vinyl albums and stuff. Little did we know that we would
have to do a bit of climbing to get to the exact spot where they shot the
pics. But once we got to the spot......there was a real surreal feeling.
We took a bunch of pictures with black and white film, it was a trip!
Fast-forward through the details as to the location of the
tree.............we came up over a big hill and looked down onto the valley
below. We had tons of pictures of the J-Tree and we were comparing the
mountains in the background of the pics on the album with several mountain
ranges in the area. Well, we looked down on the valley and we matched up
the mountain range after 10 minutes of debate. Looking down on the valley
I couldn't take my eyes of this one tree. It was a bit bigger than the
others but at 3 miles away........they all looked small. I pointed this
one tree out to my buddies and we looked through binoculars. Too far away
to tell. We drove down a bit farther and looked again. It had that
familiar 'crazy' branch sticking out. We all got chills. As we trekked
off the road toward the Tree we were in total awe. We must have snapped
about 50 pictures in both black and white film.
One way to tell if you are at the real Tree (as several have emailed me
telling me that they had seen the tree in different locations) is that
several fans have organized the stones on the ground to read U2. It was
cool. I could tell that there had been some footprints around the tree but
it had been a few weeks since anyone was there. There was no trash, no
destruction of the natural surroundings. That was good to see. We were
all afraid that people had come to the tree in the past and tried to leave
their mark. There was some evidence that one or two people had picked off
some souvenirs but for the most part........it looks that same as in '86.
The branches are a little lower and stuff. One really neat thing ( one
that threw us off a bit) was that there is a J-Tree really close to THE
TREE. This tree was strategically blocked by Edge in one of the album
photos. If you look just off his left leg, you can barely see it.
If you are ever at the Tree, duck, those spiny things on the edge of the
branches really are sharp. It was sad to leave but we had to go as the sun
was setting and it was getting nippy. We brought along a radio and
listened to the J-Tree album and drank few beers under the Tree. Sappy yes
but it was all good.
We also went to Freemont Street in Vegas where they shot the "I still
haven't found..." video. That was another deja-vous feeling.
All in all, the Tree is looking good. It will be around for another 50
years or more but only under the following conditions. Not to preach
but........this is just a request to any future visitors.
Please don't pick things off the 'Tree'. The desert is a very delicate
environment. Pulling things off the tree could leave it susceptible to
disease and other things. Thank you to all people before me who have seen
the Tree and have not defaced it. I have done the same and hope that all
others in the future will keep the Tree as it is.........alive and well in
____________. Didn't think I was going to give up the location like that
did ya? Half the fun was searching!!
Check out the following post for another important question.
Take it easy y'all,
Dan
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