I LOVE Joshua Tree! Basically obsessed with it. We’ve driven past a few time before, but I had never actually gone into the park properly. @anshulraja was interested in getting out of the city and into some nature on his visit, so Joshua Tree was a perfect day trip.
We fortified ourselves for our long car trip with a little breakfast at Commissary at The Line. I was picking @anshulraja up there and any excuse for their choriquiles.
Joshua Tree is about 120 miles from LA, pretty much straight down the 10, we had good traffic which meant it was about 2.5 hours. Once you get to the park you’re going to need to pay for entry. You can do this directly at the gate, it’s $25. But if you’re smart, head to the visitor center and buy an annual park for $80 instead- it covers all of the national parks in the US so totally worth it. Plus we got to see a ranger swearing in a junior ranger, super cute.
The park is huge!! @anshulraja thought we were walking around it – I had to point out it is not like Hyde Park. The park is 792,510 acres big! The loop we drove was about 50 miles. That being said, I would have like to have seen him try walking it 🙂
The park is where 2 deserts meet- the Mojave & the Colorado – which offer some really breathe taking landscape. We went out to the Cholla cactus garden which was 100s of cactus for you to walk around. I love cactus but you are definitely not allowed to dig them up to take home.
There are these massive rock formations all over the park. It’s super cool. I was not dressed particularly cleverly for rock climbing though in a silk skirt- must be more practical next time!
Other highlights for me:
- hidden valley
- The San Andreas fault– though I feel like they need as sign that says fault here. I was definitely expecting to see the plate sticking out and that does not happen 🙂
- Joshua trees!!! I love them. They look like something out of Doctor Seus. They are the coolest.
There’s is something about Joshua Tree that is just comforting. I can see why people go there searching for answers, it’s a pretty cool place to search. I’d like to be there at night time next time, that’d be pretty phenomenal. You can camp there, maybe I’ll try that.
After a few hours of admiring the landscape and hundreds of photos we headed over to Palm Springs for some lunch. In what I can typical Palm Springs, we were in between serving times, but luckily Ace Hotel & Swim Club will never let you down. I opted for the fancy grilled cheese with fries: everything you need to bust that hunger @anshul raja opted for a salad with a giant bowl of fries.
Jilltopia 