Joshua Tree National Park is known for its desert landscapes. A place where two deserts meet, the Mojave and the Colorado deserts. The Mojave Desert is the western half of the park which is above 3000 feet in elevation and the eastern half which is below 3000 feet in elevation is the Colorado desert.
We flew into Las Vegas and loaded our rental car with all of our camping gear, but we made one crucial decision when planning our vacation out west, not to camp in Joshua Tree National Park. A habit any regular traveler should get into when going to a new location is to check what the average temperatures are in the month you are traveling. We saw that in the month of August day time highs averaged 96 degrees Fahrenheit. That lead us to book a hotel in Twentyninepalms instead, and boy we were glad we did, as we got closer to leaving we checked the forecast which predicted highs of 104 and 105 degrees. That forecast ended up being correct.
Our first hike of the day was the Barker Dam Loop Trail. It was already in the high 90s when we started our hike. Luckily this is a short and relatively flat 1.1 mile (1.8 km) loop trail.
There was interesting plant life along the way including Prickly Pear Cactus and Joshua Trees.
We finally came upon the old Barker Dam. The dam itself offers a closer look at the history of the park’s early ranching efforts. The sign at the dam gives a brief history.
There are also some petroglyphs along the trail.
We also walked the .3 mile Cap Rock Nature Trail. It is a quick and easy 15-minute loop trail with views of boulder piles, Joshua Trees, and other desert plants.
The next stop was Keys View, it is a short walk up a concrete pathway that is moderately steep. It has spectacular views of the San Andreas Fault, Mount San Jacinto, Mount San Gorgonio, and the Salton Sea. It also overlooks Palm Springs California and the Coachella Valley. Pollution does funnel through the valley creating an unwanted haze.
We originally were going to hike Ryan Mountain but decided against it due to the temperature being well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It sometimes makes sense to back down from original plans if conditions are not right. It is not worth endangering yourself or your family.
We instead drove on and made a quick stop at the tallest Joshua Tree in the world. It is not on the national park map for Joshua Tree, but it is located in the Queen Valley inside the park. All you have to do is drive 1.5 miles past the Sheep Pass campground entrance (coming from the West Entrance Station). There is a pullout on the right side for a couple of cars. Look back about 50 feet and you will see the ~42 foot tall Joshua Tree right along the side of the road!
We then drove into the Jumbo Rocks campground and checked out the cool campsites nestled beside large boulders at many of the sites. Right around the corner is Skull Rock. It is a large Granite boulder that erosion naturally carved out hallowed eye sockets to resemble a human skull. This attraction is a few steps from the road, but you can make it a 1.7-mile walk on a nature trail with interesting rock piles and formations.
We ended the at the Cholla Cactus Garden to view the thousands of naturally growing cactus. It is one of only a few stands in the park. Teddybear Cholla or Cylindropuntia bigelovii are the main cacti of the garden and are identifiable by their densely interlaced yellow spines, tightly clustered stems, and dark lower trunk. Do not touch the plant as the spines come off easily and have tiny barbs that will lock into your skin and are hard to remove.
Other activities nearby
Kelso Dunes is a stop you should make if you are flying into Las Vegas to get into Joshua Tree National Park. It is about halfway between Las Vegas and Joshua Tree National Park or about 1:45 minutes from either. Kelso Dunes is part of the Mojave National Preserve and it is one of “only seven known sand dune fields in North America produce booming, and the Kelso Dunes are one of them! It’s a deep, eerie, rumbling sound you can feel in your bones; a rumbling vibration through your entire body. The best way to hear the booming is to have a big group all on the crest at the same time trying to shove off as much sand as possible, like an avalanche. Visitors will have more luck with this if they are on a crest no one has walked on for a while.” This is as per the national park service website. Note: The Kelso Depot is currently closed, but you can visit the old Kelso jail and there are restrooms there.
Pioneertown, California was started by Dick Curtis as a live-in 1880’s old western town for filming Western movies and shows. It is free to walk the streets and only a 20 -minute drive from Joshua Tree National Parks Visitor Center near the West Entrance of the park.
Palm Springs, California is only a 45-minute drive from Joshua Tree National Parks Visitor Center near the West Entrance of the park. We ate dinner that night at Haus of Poke`, but only sushi is available in the evening which was fine by us as it was very good. We walked to Starbucks Reserve, a must for an interesting drink unavailable anywhere else. We saw an interesting statue in the alleyway between The Haus of Poke` and Stout Burgers on the way over to Starbucks.
Finally on the way back to Twentypalms to our hotel room we made a final stop into Joshua Trees National Park to take some night shots of the sky. We stopped at the parking lot of Barker Dam, but unfortunately, my tripod was broken and I was not able to get any good shots. I used the roof of our rental car as my tripod and did get one interesting shot with the reflection of a couple of Joshua trees showing on the roof of the car. The park is known for some of the darkest skies in southern California and it did impress. Joshua Tree National Park is designated an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), We also saw a desert Kit Fox and a Desert Black-Tailed Jackrabbit. The desert really comes to life at night!
