Joshua Tree is, hands down, one of my favorite places in Southern California. The park is a literal dream with magnetic energy. It’s so peaceful and one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.
Pat and I have been to Joshua Tree twice now, both for less than 24 hours so this post is designed to maximize your time there and get you to see everything it has to offer. Compared to the size of Yosemite, Joshua Tree is a drop in the bucket so you can definitely see the entire park in one day.
What we did
There are hikes and points of interest all over Joshua Tree. Honestly if you were to just pull over and start walking, you’d be on a trail. Most of the hikes take hours to complete so if you want to do a lot of hiking you’ll need to stay for a few days. But in less than 24 hours we were able to see…
Lost Palm Oasis, which is just that… an oasis of palm trees and water pools. It’s just like a random group of palm trees in the middle of a desert, which is incredible to see and leaves you wondering how they got there, how long they’ve been there, and how they’re able to stay there given the dry climate.
Skull Rock, which is an iconic spot in Joshua Tree Park that isn’t too hard to spot. It’s a short way off the road and you’ll most likely see tons of people taking pictures in front of it.
Cholla Cactus Garden, which is a very short trail through a “garden”. This was one of my favorite spots in Joshua Tree because the landscape was so different from everywhere else. It’s a great place for a photoshoot but be super careful not to get pricked, seriously.
Jumbo Rocks… whether or not we actually saw the exact “jumbo rocks” is up for debate but there are massive rocks all over Joshua tree so you’re bound to run into some. It’s really crazy to think Native Americans lived in this type of terrain hundreds of years ago.
Barker Dam, which is a super short hike. The trail is about 1.5 miles roundtrip. Cowboys and cattle ranchers built this bad boy in 1900, which again, is crazy to think about. The dam itself used to get 10″ of rainfall and now only gets 2-3″ due to climate change which is really sad.
(There are info. signs at every point of interest in Joshua Tree so that’s how I was able to learn so much.)
Keys View, which is a short drive to a lookout point. You’re able to see Palm Springs, Salton Sea, and Coachella Valley. It’s stunning.
Wall Street Mill, which is a 1.5-2 mile roundtrip hike to a gold and water mill built by Bill Keys, who was a rancher and miner. (There are a lot of landmarks named after Bill Keys in Joshua Tree BTW.) You’ll also see an old truck believed to be Worth Bagley’s and ruins of a house (pictured above). I couldn’t find any information about the house but it’s VERY cool.
If you walk to the end of the trail, you’ll find a makeshift tombstone made by Bill Keys who shot Worth Bagley in 1943 after a dispute over water from the mill. Isn’t it wild that cowboy shootouts were still happening in the 40’s?!
Lost Horse Mine… I’d give this hike a 6/10 level of difficulty and the only reason I give it a 6 is because it’s about 4.5 miles round trip which might be challenging for some people but there aren’t any major inclines. The trail leads you to a gold mine in the middle of the mountains that was active from 1894-1931. I can’t even imagine carrying all that lumber 2 miles into the mountains in the heat without technology or modern transportation…
The reason it’s called the “Lost Horse” is because a man, Johnny Lang, lost his horse one night and traced it to a camp where he was told of the gold mine. He bought the rights to the mine and began looking for gold. Over a span of 37 years, the mine produced $5M worth of gold!
Where we ate
If you take a day trip to Joshua Tree, you need to pack lots of snacks and water. Better yet, stock a medium sized cooler because there is no place to get food inside the park.
The first time we visited Joshua Tree we were so unprepared so we ate at Jack in the Box… This last time we visited we ate at a cute Mexican place called La Casita which had horrible reviews on Yelp which was surprising because we thought the food was really good.
Have you ever been to Joshua Tree?
xx
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