A week in Joshua Tree National Park

During the winter of January 22, after a week in San Diego, we then spent a week hiking and exploring the sunny Joshua Tree national park. It was quite a nice week overall and as it was sunny, that amplified the experience even more.

Our itinerary for the week was as follows:
Day 1,2: Drive to Joshua Tree town and explore near our airbnb
Day 3: Hiking in Joshua Tree national park: Hidden Valley, Cap Road and sunset at Keys View
Day 4: Hiking in JT park: Forty Nine Palms Oasis trail, Contact Mine trail
Day 5: Visit Pioneertown, hiking in JT park: Lost Horse Mine trail
Day 6: Hiking in JT park: Ryan mountain, Skull Rock, Discovery, Face Rock, Split Rock trails; sunset at Keys View and star gazing at night
Day 7: Back to base, the Bay area


Drive to Joshua Tree town

We had a full day long drive from San Diego to Joshua Tree town through some really gorgeous landscapes. The whole drive was sunny and clear, so we could see far and clear. And slowly, we also started to get the feeling that we are slowly moving towards outback country, the old west cowboy land.

Mountains during the drive

The first half of the drive was mountainous and green. We drove through valleys surrounded by rolling green hills everywhere. The whole area was continuously inhabited, with developments everywhere. Some were small village like settlements and some larger, with most of them made up of lavish and huge houses along the sides of the hills as well as on the top. Some of them were quite pretty too, with orange roofs and white walls – it almost reminded me of Europe. There were also lots of farms on the way, some bigger and some smaller, with some animals here and there. Soon, we could see faraway mountains with snow covered peaks. And they stayed with us the whole way. This side of the mountains was still green country, and the other side turned brown, sandy and desert.

Wilson Creek Vineyard

Our airbnb was available much later in the day, so we decided to spend some more time on the way. We first stopped at Temecula wine country as we saw its boards on the way. So we just drove around, and decided to stop at a random winery for lunch. The area was full of many different vineyards all around, and we drove into the Wilson Creek vineyard. It was a huge place with lot of outside seating and views of snow covered mountains far off. It was also very touristy and full of people, clearly a popular spot. We walked a bit in the vineyards - the grape wines were all dried up at that time - had a quick lunch and then were off.

Our next stop was an outlet mall, in the middle of nowhere, at Cabazon. We were definitely not expecting a shopping place in the middle of our drive. As we did have a few things we needed to buy, we stopped there and were surprised by how crowded it was. Full, and since it was still corona time, we didn’t spend a lot of time there. It was a nice stop nevertheless, with views of snow covered mountains on the one side, and lot of premium outlets on the other.

Our drive after continued through many valleys, all with their own unique feel and landscape. Hemet valley was lined with snow mountains, panoramic views, lakes and gated communities. There were a few stunning settlements there and lot of cow farms. As soon as we crossed the snow covered mountains, the valleys become brown, sandy and desert like. The mountains were all bare and brown, still sparkling though as it was sunset time by the time we reached there.

When we reached the Joshua Park region, we passed through two towns, Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. Both were large spread out towns straight out of cowboy movies. They all had just one floor buildings situated quite far from each other. They felt more like villages, but had all the city amenities. And all around was just the brown desert. It felt like such a different world altogether. This was the first time I had been to a place like this, it felt like I had come to cowboy country! And so I was looking forward to what the next week would bring.


Joshua Tree town 

We stayed at JT town for a week. It was a spread out city, all yellow, with houses going up mountains on both sides. All were just one floor houses with loads of empty spaces everywhere. There were so many churches here too. The population of the city was just 8000 people, so surprising! The joshua tree and cactus plants were everywhere. There were so many different types of cacti around. Locals grew many types in their own gardens – some really impressive ones and some weird ones. This was the first time I had seen cactus being grown in gardens - it really felt like the wild wild west.

Sunset near our airbnb

We also saw some magnificent sunsets everyday, it looked like they were a regular daily occurrence in this part of the world. Maybe because of the clear skies, yellow brown ground and the vast expansive valleys. Or maybe something else. And the whole sky would become colourful at that time. 

On the one side would be the sun, all in yellow and orange shades. And the opposite side of the sky would have all shades of pink! The pinks disappear before, while the orange and yellow side stays brighter for longer. I had never figured out till now that the colours opposite the sunset sky have the pink and purple shades (guess because we live in cities where we can only see far off in one direction at a time, but in flat deserts, one can easily see both sides on the flat expanse).

I spent some time exploring the area around our Airbnb and it all felt like from a different world altogether. I went for a few runs in the neighbourhood, and I was surprised by the number of dogs barking at everyone. Plus the number of boards warning strangers off their private gardens. Apparently they can (and will) shoot at someone on their premises, so I was extremely careful while running in the hood to not take even one step off the road.


Joshua Tree National Park

Most of our time over the next week was spent in the Joshua Tree park itself. It’s a huge area named after its most famous resident, the Joshua tree. There are a few entrances to the park and you need to sometimes queue to get in, as there are not that many ways to get in there. Just outside the entrance we used every time, there are a few large gorgeous houses, especially a red one right next to the entrance gate. It’s really impressive, and feels like living life king-size in such a location.

The park is a huge flat expanse of bare desert land with some mountains at places, and some really stark landscapes and structures. The boulders and mountain formations everywhere are quite interesting too. The valleys are full of Joshua trees and different kinds of shrubs, while the mountains are more bare.

Sunset view behind the Joshua tree

The Joshua trees inhabit the valley till wherever the eye can see. Like a sea of trees. They have a thick bark, and the leaves look like Chewbacca from Star Wars. They are scary and fascinating at the same time. But definitely something you cannot ignore, given they have a city and a national park named after them. They tend to suck all the water from the ground, and so don’t allow any vegetation to grow near them. That’s why they all grow at a distance. Except of course if they have multiple stalks from the same root, and then there could be multiple barks next to each other at the same spot.

The jungles (or groups of Joshua trees) were different from each other depending on the part of the park. At some places, all the joshua trees had multiple barks. Someplace else they all had branches and were dense. And somewhere else, they were all younger, with just one bark. But they were always far away from each other.

Cholla cactus

The other common plant in the park was the cholla cactus – they are so gorgeous and shine in a golden hue during the evening sunsets. They look quite surreal in the evenings actually. There is one trail where you can apparently see a sea of these cactus shining in the night but we couldn’t get there as that was too far.

The park is huge and getting from one end to the other takes forever. So whenever we entered the park, we spent time exploring the trails in that particular section of the park itself. This website has a good list of hikes, and we picked a few from this for our week in the park. All the trails are very well maintained and have lot of markings, with small boards guiding you all the way. So it was very convenient to be there and explore what all it had to offer. 


Hidden Valley, Cap Road and sunset at Keys View

Valley trail

On our first day in the park, we did three short trails, the Hidden Valley, Cap Road and Keys trail. The Hidden Valley is a short walk through some huge boulders into almost a kind of oasis. This oasis has a completely different flora than the rest of the park and is surrounded by huge boulders and small hills on all sides. Some of the trekkers were also doing some rock climbing adventures there. 

Because this valley is secluded, it gets more rainfall than the other areas and hence has non-desert type of vegetation. In fact huge green trees like wild oaks. This valley is so well hidden, that it was apparently used by rogue farmers in the old times to keep stolen cattle, so that no one could find them, and they got enough greens to eat. 

Exotic cactus

The Cap Rock trail was a very short walk, and had many kinds of interesting desert plants along it, mostly shrubs. Some of them were bright coloured, with red bristles or orange flowers, while some were typical brown desert plants. I am not a person drawn to deserts naturally. Forests and greenery are more my thing. Still the beauty of some of the desert plants here was tough to ignore. And I soon started looking for these beautiful varieties, tracking them on my other trails.

Sunset from the Keys

The last trail of the day wasn’t really a trail. We drove to the end of one of the roads to see the sunset, at the Keys View. That location was magnificent. And surprisingly, the joshua trees here were denser than the other parts of the park. There was a view point from where you could see the sunset, as well as all the way till the Salton Lake on one side and the valley of Palm Springs on the other.

Sunset from the Keys

It was such a magnificient location that you could see valleys and high peaks all around you. And with the sunset, so many beautiful colours came into view – the bright yellow of the setting sun, as well as the pink on the opposite side. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me, standing on a boulder at Keys and looking all around, getting lost in the magic and grandeur of nature. Pinks on one side, yellows on the other. And a view till 100s of miles afar, of lakes and cities and mountains and peaks. It was absolutely stunning.

Also, even though the day had been warm and sunny all day, the temperature just dropped right after sunset – typical desert climate. So after enjoying the magical sunset, we had to run back to our cars to get back and out of the park soon enough.


Forty-nine Palms Oasis and Contact Mine trails

The Forty-nine Palms Oasis trail can only be accessed from outside the park, and is supposed to be a very hot weather trail. It is named so as it ends at 49 palms growing on a barren hill with a hidden water stream flowing right next to them – hence its known as the oasis trail.

49 palms from far

The trail was about 3 miles and we took about 1.5 hours to finish it. First we walked up the mountain ledge for a while, crossed onto the other side and then went down to get to the palms and the oasis. As soon as you first get over the mountain ledge, you can already spot the 49 palms from far off. This helps motivate you towards the end of the hike. 

Red barrel cactus

On this trail, we also noticed a lot of red barrel cactus dotting the mountainside. They were so red and some were really huge. And once you see them, you keep spotting them all the time. I found them quite interesting. At the end of the hike, you get to this group of huge green palm trees, with a stream of water flowing hidden in the bottom. It’s really a work of nature to find such a random group of trees peeping at you from behind the mountains.

49 palms oasis

Apparently if you are lucky, you can even spot local wildlife at the stream, when they come there to drink, but we didn’t see anything. We did see some of the tree barks had been burnt due to fires in the past. So there were lot of rules for hikers here – to not go down to the oasis, to not disturb the wildlife, and to not light fires. Also there were multiple boards in the area asking everyone to stay hydrated, as there had been a few deaths here due to the heat.

Anyways once we reached there, we had a good short break with some food and water. And we really enjoyed sitting under the cool shade of the trees after the long and sunny hike. Overall, it was a nice hike and we enjoyed it.

Contact Mine Trail

After this, we decided to go to the Contact Mine trail, entering from a different part of the park and realised that there were no Joshua trees at all at this side of the park! There were a lot more palm trees but no Joshua trees. As it was already late, we walked just a short part of the trail. As usual we saw some interesting shrubs, as well as a gorgeous sunset again. We could also see the sun and moon together. that day As it was getting dark, we cut short our hike and left the park soon enough.


Pioneertown

Pioneertown

One of the days, we visited Pioneertown, a town built like a cowboys movie set, like the wild wild west. Apparently part of it was built for movie shootings, and the other part of it was for people to stay in. Interestingly, there were no joshua trees there. Only the shrubs with orange fruits and parasitic plants on them.

The town felt so real and yet so old, like a ghost town. With a local post office and tavern, a sheriff’s office, a bank, and the big cactus, all built in the old style. We spent some time just walking around town and it felt like we were back in time. We didn't stay long there, it was quite a short but interesting experience.


Lost Horse Mine trail

Huge white flowers

The Lost Horse Mine trail is one of the longer trails of the park. We walked about 7kms to and fro, in about 2 hours. This hike goes up the mountains through a few ranges, to the old gold mine from the times of the Californian Gold Rush. It is quite a wide hike, though steep most of the way. On the way, we saw some huge white flowers which were gorgeous. And once we saw them, we kept seeing more of them the whole time. At a different time of the year, I think the whole valley would be full of them and they would have looked so pretty. 

View from the Mine trail

We saw a few people running up the trail which was quite impressive. But otherwise it was quite empty. The views all through were quite stunning. Once we reached the old mine, we read its history - it had been restored recently and still worked. Though there was no more gold anymore. 

Panoramic view from top

On a whim, we decided to walk up a bit more behind the mine to go to the top of the hill and we were greeted with a magnificent view, which was another highlight of the trip for me. The view from the top was out of this world. We saw a valley far off with boulderous structures everywhere as if from Star Wars. And there were no roads going there, it was like the lost land. And the clouds by then had spread out in the sky in a beautiful pattern. We got some really nice life-changing photos up there.

Sunset on the trail

And while coming back, all these clouds turned a golden yellow, setting the perfect background for the Joshua trees. I think I saw one of my best sunsets on this hike while coming back, it was quite stunning and surreal. I loved this hike because of the sunset, though I understand it was a chance incident. But still…


Ryan mountain, Skull Rock trail and star gazing

The Ryan mountain is one of the highest points of the park and we did a 5 kms, 1.5 hours trek to the peak. It was a nice hike, with some panoramic views of the park around, and all the mountains and peaks around. It was mostly an uphill trek and offered quite similar views other of the valleys below. At the top, we walked to the two peaks, and both had 360 degrees views of the valleys on both sides.

Looks like a dinosaur?

After that, we did a very long trail in another part of the park, where we first started walking towards Skull Rock. And then kept following the trail to Discovery trail, Face Rock and Split Rock trail one after the other. The walk was mostly flat but had some really impressive rock faces. In fact the skull rock was quite ok. But we saw more shapes, including a dinosaur which felt more true to their names. There were also lot of huge boulders everywhere, and we climbed one steep one to have lunch on top. 

There were lot of crowds near the skull rock, but the rest of the trail was mostly empty. And we ended up walking a much longer round than we had expected, more than 8 kms. And we thought a few times that we were lost. But thankfully that wasn’t the case. It was a nice walk, tiring though. And as usual my interest was piqued when I noticed and followed some new plants around. 

After this unexpected delay, we drove to the Keys again and saw the last minutes of another stunning sunset. After the sunset, we thought we might want to do some star gazing and drove to one of the star gazing points. There were loads of people there. We did see the milky way, but not a lot more that night. Partially because of the crowds, but also because the moon was out in full that night, big and bright. Guess if we had stayed till later in the night, we would have seen more but we got tired after an hour or so and left. But apparently it is one of the highlights of the park.


And that was our last evening in Joshua Tree. Overall I loved this national park, it was different. And even though it was a desert, I found all the trails slightly different than each other. Its definitely a place I can come back to, even just for its mesmerising sunsets.