When I was a kid, my room was covered in posters from my favorite bands. Most of my wall space was taken up by U2. Their Joshua Tree album was the first album that made me really love music. I was also enamored with all of the pictures of Joshua Tree National Park that they included in their cover art. Those pictures were beautiful, stark and breathtakingly otherworldly. I wanted to go to there… I wanted to know if the streets have no name in Joshua Tree.
Here is a little history about one of the most beautiful places in America. Joshua Tree was initially created as a National Monument on August 10th, 1936. It covers over 825,000 acres. Activist Minerva Hoyt persuaded the state and federal governments to protect the area. The park was eventually elevated to a National Park on October 31st, 1994. The California Desert Protection Act also added 234,000 acres to the park.
The Mojave Desert is cooler and higher than you would expect. It is the special habitat of the Joshua tree for which the park is named. In addition to Joshua tree forests, the western part of the park includes some of the most fantastic geologic displays found in California’s deserts. The dominant geologic features of this landscape are hills of bare rock, usually broken up into loose boulders. These hills are popular with rock climbing enthusiasts. The flatland between these hills is sparsely forested with Joshua trees. Together with the boulder piles and Skull Rock, the trees make the landscape ethereal. I do have to say, everyone was ready to take advantage of the hills. It’s almost impossible to not take beautiful pictures!
They’re also good for sight seeing or trying to get phone service in the middle of a desert… Good luck with the phone service!
Temperatures are most comfortable in the spring and fall, with an average high/low of 85 and 50 °F. You’re still going to need a build a nice fire to keep warm.
There is nothing like seeing Joshua Tree at night. The sky is unlike any night sky you have ever seen.
You’re also going to need something to help you navigate the desert. I was lucky enough to have a Mazda CX-5. It was a comfortable and fun vehicle to drive through Joshua Tree and it had plenty of room to pack up all of my gear and food.
I didn’t really feel like I was roughing it the entire time. With the Napolean Grills and all the great food from Hormel (I was crushing grilled Spam by the handful…Â I Love It!)
Make sure you get to all of those nooks and crannies that populate a lot of Joshua Tree. These are the places that are really, really cool and I want to thank Mazda and my friends at MenWhoBlog for helping me get to those places!
Joshua Tree National Park was everything that I could of hoped for. It’s the perfect place for a solo getaway or a camping trip with friends and family.
What Do You Think About Joshua Tree!?!