Joshua Tree National Park

About

Joshua Tree National Park covers nearly 800,000 acres of desert in San Bernardino and Riverside counties in southeastern California, roughly two and a half hours east of Los Angeles and south of Palm Springs. The park is named for the Joshua tree itself, a member of the yucca family with spiky, clustered leaves and an outsized silhouette that only grows in specific pockets of the American Southwest.

Two distinct deserts meet and overlap here. The higher, cooler Mojave Desert covers the western half of the park and is where the Joshua trees, boulder piles, and rock-climbing zones like Hidden Valley, Jumbo Rocks, and Indian Cove are concentrated. The lower Colorado Desert takes over in the east, with creosote scrub, ocotillo, and the Cholla Cactus Garden. Much of the park is designated wilderness area, which keeps it feeling far more remote than its proximity to Los Angeles would suggest.

The night skies are exceptional. Joshua Tree is an International Dark Sky Park, and on a clear night the Milky Way is visible arching overhead. Keys View takes in the Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault, and, on clearest days, Signal Mountain across the Mexican border.

A Joshua Tree road trip works well as a standalone Southern California desert retreat or as part of a larger Southwest tour connecting to Palm Springs, Salton Sea, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon.