#2 Joshua Tree

joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia)

History
In the grand scheme of National Parks, Joshua Tree's official status is pretty new.  It was named an official National Park in 1994 (however, it has been a National Monument since 1936).  It's named for the unique looking joshua trees that are literally all over the park and surrounding towns.  The park is part Mojave Desert, part Colorado Desert (but all desert).  And it has a surprising number of ecosystems from really barren, dry desert, to highlands, to comparatively wetter basins all within about a 1.5 hour drive. 

Trails and Points of Interest

View from the top of Mt. Ryan

Mt. Ryan Trail: The trip up to the summit of Mt. Ryan is fairly easy, and really lovely.  It's only a 3 mile round trip trail with an elevation gain of 1000ft.  Most of it is made of stone stairs, but it isn't really that steep.  There are also 360 views of the desert and nearby mountains most of the way.  We completed the climb in about 45 minutes (we took copious picture breaks) and the trip back down took about 20.  It'll get your heart rate up, but not make you want to die. It's definitely the best way to get a good view of the park.

Skull Rock: Skull rock is a rock formation that is super bizarre and loosely resembles a skull.  It's in this group of other rocks that look fake.  Honestly, this whole park has that feeling, like it's a movie set and not real life.

panoramic of the formations around Skull Rock

The rocks are very rough, which makes them ideal for climbing.  I could have spent hours just in this part of the park bouldering.  There's so many big rocks to climb on and under and around. It's really fun.  One little tip though, things are a lot steeper going down than they were going up.

My travel buddy trying to get back down

Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden: In yet another trick of nature that seems unreal, there's a small part of the park called the cactus garden that has cactus packed together as far as you can see.  These are cacti you can find in other parts of the park, but there are few and far between.  In this maybe 5 acre square, they are literally everywhere.  You can't leave the path for fear of being pricked to death by cacti.  Overall, it's a pretty cool place to see, but there's no need to spend a ton of time there.  Marvel at the cacti, take some pictures, and then move on. 

Octotillo!

Octotillo Patch: In the interest of complete disclosure, I have to admit that ever since I went to Big Bend a few years ago, I've been kinda obsessed with Octotillos.  They are by far my favorite cactus because they are adorable and look like octopuses.  Needless to say, I was pretty into the next bizarre section of Joshua Tree: the Octotillo Patch.  Much like the Cactus Garden, the Octotillo Patch comes out of no where.  You just turn a corner and there are hundreds of Octotillos!  Again, the Octotillos in the rest of the park are pretty rare, but in this 1000ft square, they are everywhere.  I really can't emphasize enough how this park feels so fake and manufactured.  Nature is super weird.

sunset from Key's View

Key's View: At the end of the day, we drove up to Key's View.  I'm told you can hike up to it, but we had run out of daylight, so we cheated 😊.  It's a few miles off the main road and up into the mountains.  There is a nice lookout with plenty of room to find a spot without other people to view the sunset.  The view of the San Bernadino Mountains in the background is pretty incredible.  We lucked into a cloudy, but not too cloudy day, so the sunset was beautiful!  AND in a bonus turn of events, we saw several coyotes on the way back down the mountain!

Superbloom

cactus flowers

We got super lucky, like super lucky.
Due to the large amounts of rain in California this winter all the dormant wildflower seeds in the desert bloomed!  It's being called superbloom and I have to admit, it was pretty super.  The ground was literally covered in yellow flowers and every cactus (including the Joshua tree) was in bloom. 

Lessons Learned
1. Wear sunscreen, even if you go in early spring and have forgotten that sunburns are a thing.
2. Along a similar theme, bring lots of water.  It's a desert, so it's dry and hot.
3. Don't step on the cacti in the Cactus Garden, they will get stuck in your shoe and then you'll have to pull it out with your hand and it will not be fun (We saw at least four people doing exactly this).
4. Go during a superbloom.  Sure they only come around every handful of years, but man, it was gorgeous.

yellow flowers forever!