JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK
Joshua Tree National Park has been on our list for it's dark skies stargazing(which is our favorite activity to do.) Little did we know that we would fall in love with the hi desert, the landscapes. We spent two days exploring the park. Twentynine Palms was our base for those two days, and we stayed in a cute little airbnb there, more on this later!
We started from Phoenix in the afternoon with Twentynine Palms as our destination, it was about a four hour drive. The drive was spectacular, you pretty much have the road all to yourself especially the last hour or two and then you are on a road that doesn't seem to end. We witnessed an airplane on the road, a first for us so we decided to pull over and get gas at the iconic Roy's on route 66. We realized that it was a photoshoot during the sunset with route 66 sign on the road, and I am sure the photos turned out great. The sight was as pretty as it could be. We then resumed our journey towards our airbnb.
Route 66
About the stay, I am sure there are many options available out there, we wanted to do something special as it was our anniversary trip. We booked this little airbnb that's secluded and has a hot tub with millions of stars as the roof. It was the perfect getaway and is only about 20 min from the Joshua Tree National Park.
We reached our airbnb just as the sun set and waited for the stars to make their appearance and honestly we were surprised at how beautiful it was. We gazed at the sky full of stars for a while and retired for the night. Next morning we soaked in the hot springs tub and took in the breathtaking views of the desert as the sun rose, a perfect start to the day.
A mandatory pic at the National Park sign
We started the day by picking up some breakfast and entered the park using our National Park pass. We had the park all to ourselves for at least a couple of hours before the traffic started picking up. Hot tip, consider getting into the park early in the day, as you will have the park basically to yourselves, you will have more daylight to explore the park, you can gain a parking spot to some of the most famous trails in the National Park.
Sweeping views at Hall of Horrors
I believe two days is a good amount of time to spend in Joshua Tree National Park, you can cover the majority of the sights. We really didn’t plan to the dot, we told ourselves we are going to explore the park as we go and see where it takes us! Our first stop is the Hall of Horrors, a 0.6 mile loop with various rock formations and a good spot for rock scrambling and offers great views.
Keys View
We were back on the road and headed to keys view. It is a popular destination with views of Coachella Valley, San Andreas Fault, Mount San Jacinto, Mount San Gorgonio and the Salton Sea. On a clear day you could see Signal Mountain in Mexico, but it has become a rare sight.
Skull Rock
As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have a set plan and we were being spontaneous and going where the road takes us. We left the park to have lunch and on our way back we visited the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center in Twentynine Palms and picked up a few souvenirs. Our next stop was Skull Rock, near Jumbo rocks. It is a 1.7 mile loop easy hike where you get to see the famous Skull Rock.
We headed to Cholla Cactus garden, and had the best sunset. It is a 0.25 mile loop that has teddy bear cholla. Be careful as you navigate around these cacti as they tend to detach and adhere to people and animals as a method of propagation.
Sunset at Cholla Cactus garden
Stargazing is a favorite activity of ours and Joshua Tree National Park is an International Dark Sky Park. Unfortunately we couldn’t do it as the sky was cloudy and there was a heavy wind advisory. We left the park and had some dinner at a local restaurant. It wasn’t until we stepped out of the restaurant we realized how windy it was. We still think about how we managed to drive all the way back safely. That was some serious wind advisory alert!!
Next morning, we visited Oasis of Mara, a 0.5 mile loop. We decided to say goodbye to the Joshua Tree National Park until next time as we have a flight to catch in Phoenix in the evening!
That was some trip!