How I Spent 2 Days in Joshua Tree National Park
My Out-Sand-ing American road trip continued with a stop at the
national park that sparked the entire journey, Joshua Tree National Park.
For weeks I had been seeing other people on my Instagram showing off
their pictures from the beautiful park and I knew that was where I needed to be.
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I left Sedona, Arizona (you can read more about my time in Sedona here) at 6:30am
to begin the 5.5 hour drive to Joshua Tree National Park. It was definitely a
lonnng drive, but the mountainous scenery gave me something absolutely
beautiful to look at. (So much better than the flat plains of Kansas!)
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Pulling up to the California border I saw in front of me these booths, almost like
a toll plaza, with huge signs calling it an inspection point. Y'all I started freaking out.
I don't know why. It's not like I was hiding any contraband in my truck!
I guess it was just because it was something I had never been through before? Who knows. lol I
ended up calling my dad later and he told me that that inspection point is
actually there so they can check the cars coming into the state for bugs! Apparently
because of all the produce they have in California there are certain insects
they don't want entering into the state. The more you know. lol
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They let me and my truck through the inspection and then my troubles
began. First, I wanted to stop and take a picture of the California state sign, buuuuut
the highway was big and I couldn't get over in time. Then, not long after that the
truck began screaming at me saying I needed to get the oil changed because oil
life was at 0% which is exactly what you want happening when you are driving
a rental truck over 1200 miles from home. lol I called Budget (where I rented the
car from) and since it was a weekend I got patched through to a service representative
who said I needed to take it to the nearest location and exchange it. However, the
nearest location for me at that point was at an airport or Palm Springs and
well...I knew if I took it to either place I would probably not be coming back
out with a truck and I wasn't ready to part with Black Beauty so I decided a few
more days without an oil change wasn't going to kill her and kept on trucking.
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I arrived at Joshua Tree about 2:30pm and was met with a lovely little surprise. I
knew Joshua Tree was a popular park, but when I arrived there were cars
lined up for at least a half a mile waiting to get in. It wasn’t
until I got closer to the entrance that I realized it was free entrance day for the
national parks. Since I already had the America the Beautiful pass (which I highly
recommend if you plan on visiting more than one national park in a year) the free entrance
day didn’t really help me out much and it just made my time in the park a LOT more
crowded. (But I still think this is a great thing the park system does. lol)
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Ignore my dirty windshield. lol
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Once I finally made it into the park I made my way to Hidden Valley trail only to find that the
parking lot for the hike was full. I drove on to the next hike on my itinerary, which was Barker Dam,
and as I neared the parking lot for that one I was told by a ranger that it was
also full and he sent me away down a “backroad” in the park. (Pretty sure it was called Queen Valley Road.) I was a little disheartened
at this point, but my mood quickly changed when I realized the opportunity I had.
I had this dirt road pretty much all to myself and I was surrounded by what I drove
all the way out there to see..Joshua trees! I parked the truck along the side of the
road, got out and took some pictures of the trees and
just enjoyed my time away from the crowds.
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After I finished with my pictures I decided to keep moving and try for Skull Rock. The
parking lot for that was again full, however, here I was able to park along
the side of the main road (about a half mile or so away) and spent a little
bit of time climbing over all the jumbo rocks.
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Skull Rock
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There is a trail you can hike to get to Skull Rock (since I parked so
far away I just ended up climbing through the jumbo rocks till I found it lol)
which starts from the Skull Rock parking lot or also from the Jumbo Rocks campground.
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Trail Name: Skull Rock
Trail Length: 1.7 mile loop
Estimated Hike Time: 1-2 hours
Elevation Gain: 120 feet
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I learned very quickly that my Chacos were definitely not the move when
it came to crawling over these big rocks (or at least that is better than
saying I was just a huge chicken!) and I kept my climbing pretty tame while
I watched some dudes do some insane climbs.
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Someone climbed up inside that "eye" opening in the rock. Also...anyone else think this rock looks like a turtle?
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My next stop in the park was at the Cholla Cactus Garden and Ocotillo Patch. There is a little trail
you can hike on that takes you through the garden, but I just ended up
parking along the side of the road and exploring on my own
(while doing a couple photoshoots of course lol)
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Trail Name: Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail
Trail Length: 0.25 miles
Estimated Hiking Time: 15-30 minutes
Elevation Gain: Zero; trail is flat
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Somehow managed to get pricked by one of the cacti so that was fun. Lol
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I also got to see some pretty huge ocotillo plants here!
Like seriously....look at the size of it!!! Granted, I am only 5'1" so most things look super tall next to me, but still!
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Once I was done with all the cacti I continued on the main road through
the park, made a stop at the Cottonwood Visitor Center, and then drove
out to the Cottonwood Spring trailhead.
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Trail Name: Lost Palms Oasis
Trail Length: 7.5 miles out & back
Estimated Hike Time: 5-6 hours
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
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My original plan was to hike out to the Lost Palms Oasis. However, it was
about a 4 mile hike one way and with it being a couple hours from sunset I decided
to not press my luck and settled for hiking out to Mastodon Peak instead.
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Trail Name: Mastodon Peak
Trail Length: 3 miles loop
Estimated Hike Time: 1.5-2.5 hours
Elevation Gain: 440 feet
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The trail starts with some beautiful palm trees.
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Don't tell Kristin, but I may have disobeyed the signs and went
off the trail to explore a little more. 🙈🙊 lol
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After the palm trees the trail opened up to where you found yourself in the open rocky desert.
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After some very strenuous uphill hiking/climbing (I was huffing and puffing
like the big bad wolf) I made it to Mastodon Peak.
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I could have stayed up here and looked at this view forever.
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The sun was just starting to set as I finished my hike so I decided to drive
back through the park to my hotel. I tried to find a good spot to watch
sunset, but I didn’t have much cell service and most places were still full
up anyway so I just enjoyed the views from the truck, stopping every now
and then along the side of the road to take some pictures. (That's another great thing
about this park is that it is HUGE. So even though it was super crowded that day
there were still plenty of times when I was able to find areas away from all the people.)
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After snagging some Burger King I checked into my hotel
in Twentynine Palms, the Superstay Best Western, and went to
bed exhausted and ready for day two!
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My second day in Joshua Tree started early (somewhere between 7 & 8am) on the
trail for FortyNine Palms Oasis. I wanted to get out there before it
got too hot because this is definitely
NOT a trail you want to be hiking in the middle of a summer day. Plus, getting
to the trail about this time was perfect because there weren't very many people
there yet. (When I got back from hiking the trail about 10:30am the parking lot
was FULL so definitely get here early if you can.)
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Trail Name: FortyNine Palms Oasis
Trail Length: 3 miles out & back
Estimated Hike Time: 2-3 hours
Elevation Gain: 300 ft (both directions)
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This trail was no walk in the park taking you up and over ridges and winding
you through tons of barrel cacti. However, the oasis at the end of the trail
is the perfect place to stop and rest and so worth all the effort to
get there. (I also tried out my trekking poles for the first
time on this hike and well, I think they helped. Although since I hadn't done the
trail without them I honestly can't say for sure if they really made a difference. lol)
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Almost there!
I want this view in my backyard.
Did anyone count? Are there actually 49 palm trees? Lol
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Once I reached the oasis I found a huge rock to sit on to write in my travel
journal while enjoying the morning sun on my face and the view of the
palm trees in front of me. I actually lucked out and had the area to myself
for quite a while! When this big group of people showed up at the oasis I packed
up my hiking bag to let them have their time there and hiked back to the parking lot.
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I stopped at the bathroom (there are a couple at the trailhead!) and changed
out of my sweaty hiking clothes and into a cute outfit for Palm
Springs, my next destination.
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Joshua Tree National Park Things to Know
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1.) If you are wanting to go on some of the more popular hikes in the park I definitely
recommend you get there early. (This is also important to help avoid the heat if you
are visiting in the summer!)
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2.) Chacos are great, but I found that they weren't ideal for hiking through this park.
I constantly had sand and rocks in my sandals and it was very uncomfortable (and
even painful) at times. Closed toe shoes is probably the better option.
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3.) Be sure to fill up on gas before you enter the park. As I mentioned earlier this park
is big so you will be doing a LOT of driving. Always best to make sure you have a
full tank of gas before you enter into any national park.
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4.) Cell service is pretty much non-existent. Almost the entire time I was in Joshua Tree
I had zero cell phone reception so keep that in mind when you are visiting and
download any directions you might need before you go.
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5.) While the park is full of Joshua Trees, these bad boys don't provide much shade
especially on a vast majority of the trails in the park. This means that hot sun will
be hitting you full force anytime you are out hiking. Be sure to try to start
your hikes early, wear sunscreen/protective clothing, and bring LOTS of water.
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Overall, even though I wasn't able to go on all the hikes I wanted to, I LOVED
my time in Joshua Tree. It is easily one of my top 5 favorite national parks
that I have been to and I cannot wait to go back and do some more exploring!
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