Joshua Tree National Park, CA Review

To the Point

I never could have imagined that the desert could be breathtakingly gorgeous. Joshua Tree National Park was.

A Closer Look

We always stop at a Visitor Center. Joshua Tree has four. Three of them are open all year round from 8 to 5 and one is open October through May.

The fee is $15.00 per car. As usual we had a National Park Pass for $80 a year which gets us into all the parks and even places like National Monuments.

There are about 800,000 acres that make up this Park. It is figured that people have lived in the area for at least the last 5,000 years. It gets more than 1 million visitors a year.

We spent several days here. One day we went on two nature walks. They are called nature walks because of the placards telling us about the area. These were easy with sand-like trails and rock steps when necessary. These trails are great for beginner hikers and children.

Another day we headed to Ryan Mountain. The hike was great. It was narrow and rocky at times but for the most part we walked on hard packed sand. This would have been slippery if the strategically placed stones weren’t there. This was a 3-mile moderately strenuous (strenuous in the heat as in 100 degrees!) hike.

Another day we toured much of the Park stopping at the placards along the roadway. There is a nice ½ mile walk to Arch Rock which I recommend.

Jo's Viewpoint

I like it!

www.nps.gov/jotr/

Please take only pictures; leave only footprints; kill only time.