A Scenic Visit to Joshua Tree National Park

We saw lots of Joshua trees around the north part of the park

Two years after I first visited Joshua Tree National Park to do some stargazing, I came back again, this time during the day and to a different part of the park.

We drove along 123 to Highway 10 west then 62 north to get to the west entrance of the park. Along the way we were very surprised to see some towns with large shopping malls, while others were very sparsely populated. 

At the Visitor's Centre we paid our entrance fee (US$30 per car, good for seven days) and drove to the main entrance. There was a queue of cars waiting to go in, as some people don't pay the entrance fee at the visitor's centre, or have questions... 

Curious rock formations are all over the park

Keep the ticket with you, and don't leave it on your dashboard, because it can get very windy there and the ticket could fly away -- and you need to show the ticket to the park ranger upon leaving the park.

The northern part of the park has a lot of Joshua trees, which can conserve a lot of moisture and yet still grow 2.5cm per year, up to 12m in total. Interesting fact -- the Joshua tree can typically live 150 years.

They are related to the yucca, which looks like a large shrub with long narrow leaves. The trunks of Joshua trees don't have rings like most trees because Joshua trees are actually made from fibres, as it is from the Agave family. 

What's also intriguing is that it is believed in the last ice age, giant ground sloths ate Joshua tree fruits, and spread the seeds, thus helping the trees cover a greater area and survive the change in climate. Since the ground sloth is extinct, Joshua tree seeds don't fall far from the parent tree now.

And with climate change there is a concern that Joshua trees may not be able to adapt to the warmer temperatures and could die at lower elevations! A good reason to see Joshua trees!

The park ranger gave us a suggested route on the map and we pretty much followed it. We went south along Park Boulevard until we reached Quail Springs. 

An amazing view of the area from Keys View

We were immediately struck by the fascinating rock formations, giant smooth boulders bunched together. They were formed from volcanic activity, where magma rose up and flowed over the rock and then the granite cooled and crystalised, forming horizontal and vertical cracks. 

Afterwards chemical weathering caused wide cracks and rounding edges and erosion resulted in the giant rocks looking like toy blocks.

We saw some people practicing mountain climbing with ropes and pulleys, while others brought food to eat on picnic tables, and some antelope ground squirrels nearby to pick up crumbs! There are some charcoal grills at many of the sites if someone wants to barbecue...

Hidden Valley is another place where people can do a relatively easy hike for an hour, but we took some pictures and moved onto Cap Rock. and then Keys View, a definitely good place to stop.

There you are in the middle of the park at a much higher elevation, several degrees cooler (and windier) where you can look down on Palm Springs in the distance, and Coachella closer in front. It' was quite windy there, but amazing views! 

People scrambling up Skull Rock

From there we went back up north to Cap Rock where we went east and passed by Skull Rock that people were climbing before going north again to the north entrance of the park. We showed the park ranger our entrance ticket before exiting the park and ended up on Twentynine Palms highway.

By this point we hadn't had lunch and stopped at a Starbucks for a quick sandwich before heading back to Palm Springs. A pretty good day visit and hopefully not the last! 

Last time I was at Joshua Tree, I went to Cholla Cactus Garden, but it is closed at the moment to improve conditions on the trail there.