Joshua Tree National Park

While the Joshua Tree area has been inhabited by humans for at least 10,000 years, by the late 1920s the development of new roads into the desert had brought an influx of land developers and cactus poachers. Minerva Hoyt, a Pasadena resident who was extremely fond of desert plants, became concerned about the removal of cacti and other plants to the gardens of Los Angeles. Her tireless efforts to protect this area culminated in 825,000 acres being set aside as Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936. As part of the Desert Protection Bill, Joshua Tree National Monument was elevated to National Park status on October 31, 1994. The bill also added 234,000 acres. Elevations in the park range from a low of 536 feet to a high of 5,814 feet at Quail Mountain.

We visited Joshua Tree National Park in late November 2024 while staying at the Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Park in Palm Desert, California. We entered the park at the Cottonwood entrance at its southeast side, stopping at the small visitor center on the way. Following Pinto Basin Road to Park Boulevard generally took us from the southeast side of the park to the northwest side, eventually exiting at the West Entrance Station.

While we had visited Joshua Tree a number of times over the years, this was our first time driving the full length of the park and we got to appreciate the wide variety of scenery and ecosystems that exist in addition to the famous Joshua Trees that everyone associates with the park. There are three unique ecosystems within the park. As we entered at the southeast side, we found ourselves in the Colorado Desert that was characterized by stands of spike-like ocotillo plants and “jumping” cholla cactus. We stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden which includes a flat 0.25-mile loop trail. We walked through a section of the thousands of teddy bear cholla cactus with a backdrop of distant mountain views.

As we continued along the road, we passed from the Colorado Desert into the southern boundary of the Mojave Desert which reaches across the northern part of the park. This is the habitat that includes the park’s namesake: the Joshua tree. We stopped at several areas along the road where there were many photo-ops. Along the way we pulled into the Live Oak Picnic area, driving a short distance on dirt roads to a secluded spot among the Joshua Trees and rock formations to enjoy a late picnic lunch as the sun was low in the sky on this short winter day. As we drove out of the park at its northwestern side, we got glimpses of Joshua Tree’s third ecosystem where the Little San Bernardino Mountains provide habitat for a community of California juniper and pinyon pine above 4,000 feet.

Our half-day visit to Joshua Tree was an enjoyable trip through the variety of ecosystems, geological features, and plants to inhabit the park, and we learned there was more to the park than just the eponymous Joshua Tree plants.

Photos of our visit are provided below. Click on the thumbnails to view the photos.