Before visiting Joshua Tree National Park in California I honestly thought I was just going to see some really cool trees and that was it. I had no idea just how incredible this landscape would be, how many unique plants I would see or that it was such a fantastic rock scrambling paradise as well!
Joshua Tree National Park ended up being an absolute highlight for on our family’s Southwest United States road trip and I’d love to share with you what we found.
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK
Twentynine Palms, CA
Our family’s Joshua Tree National Park adventure began on the northeast side of the park, in the town of Twentynine Palms. We started from Twentynine Palms because this town gave us quick access into the park for our first evening here, and then the following morning we could drive the full Park Blvd Loop, ending in the town of Joshua Tree.
By focusing our time in Joshua Tree, to the evening and the morning, we were able to beat most of the intense summer mid-day heat and therefore have, in my opinion, an even more comfortable & incredible experience.
For our adventure, we arrived in Twentynine Palms in the late afternoon in June. We checked into our hotel (The Sure Stay Plus by Best Western) and decided to grab an early dinner at the Rib Co in town, which was absolutely delicious!
Now with our bellies full, and the heat of the day finally calming down, we headed into the Joshua Tree National Park to find our first destination, The Cholla Cactus Garden.
Joshua Tree National Park Map
The Cholla Cactus Garden
About 30 minutes south from Twentynine Palms, in Joshua Tree National Park, is the Cholla Cactus Garden. This was our first stop within the park and I couldn’t wait!
Here, over 1,000 densely packed cholla cacti completely dominate the landscape. And although this is a great site to visit anytime of day, it’s absolutely magical if you can visit in either the early morning or in the evening. This is because, during these hours the sunlight hits the cacti needles just right and these cacti actually look like they’re glowing!
I was completely intrigued by this and I couldn’t wait to see it for myself!
Our family arrived at the Cholla Cactus Garden at 7pm (sunset was at 8pm) and I absolutely couldn’t believe my eyes! In this evening light, each cholla cacti was literally outlined with a beautiful glow. And it was absolutely beautiful!
Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail
To fully experience the Cholla Cactus Garden, you’ll want to walk on the 0.25 mile nature trail. This trail is a flat loop that is a combination of a dirt paths and boardwalks that weave (safely) among 10 acres of these magnificent cholla cacti.
The Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail is an easy walk, but do know that it is very exposed, so you’ll probably want to have a water bottle and sun hat handy on this trail.
The Sign
At the beginning of this trail, you’ll immediately see a sign that warns about the dangers of touching these cacti. At first I thought it was kind of funny that they had to put a sign up about something that seemed so obvious, but I went ahead and had each of my children read it. I wanted to make sure that they knew that this was not a trail for any roughhousing or for not paying attention to where they were walking. Getting stuck by cacti needles is not fun.
Funny enough, from a distance, these cholla cacti actually don’t look too dangerous. They even look kind of soft and fuzzy. Hence why they are also known as the teddybear cholla. But up close, you see a very different picture. These cacti have more needles on each square inch than I could have ever imagined!
Now That’s a Dangerous Cacti!
Incredibly Beautiful, yet Insanely Dangerous.
After seeing these cacti up close, I was so glad that I had my children carefully read the warning sign and that they knew that this was not a trail to fool around on.
10 Traveling Feet Tip: A pair of tweezers, just in case, is a good thing to have available when hiking these types of trails.
(My husband accidentally fell into a cactus in Sedona, Arizona while hiking on a trail. That cacti had a lot less needles, but it was not a fun experience for him at all. I couldn’t even imagine accidentally falling into one of these cacti! Ouch!)
Ever since our Sedona cactus incident, Chris always carries his small Swiss Army Knife that has a set of tweezers in it when hiking.
Fortunately, we didn’t need to use our tweezers on this trail and our family had a fantastic time!
Our family absolutely loved walking the Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail! It was completely thrilling to walk out among these unique cacti. From a far, looking almost cuddly, yet up close, looking very dangerous. The cholla were unlike anything I’d ever seen. And then seeing their beautiful, unreal glow in the evening light, well that just took my breath away.
Time Needed to See Cholla Cactus Garden
Approximately 30 minutes
After visiting the spectacular Cholla Cactus Garden, we made our way back to our hotel in Twentynine Palms, to rest up for our next day’s adventure through Joshua Tree National Park.
Tip: If your family is going to the Cholla Cactus Garden from Twentynine Palms, know that you’ll pass right by Arch Rock Nature Trail on the way and might want to stop to check it out. (See Below)
Arch Rock Nature Trail
Distance: 1.24 Miles Out-and-Back
Arch Rock Nature Trail is absolutely amazing! But we found, where to start was a little confusing.
The official parking lot for Arch Rock Trail starts from the Twin Tanks Parking area off of Pinto Basin Road. (I know this now) But when we were visiting Joshua Tree, we randomly pulled into the White Tank Campground, just down the road, to check it out (it’s on my bucket list to come back here and sleep under the stars) and we saw a sign to Arch Rock. I had heard that this trail was fun and the campground was almost empty so we parked and set off down the trail.
The sandy trail immediately was surrounded by giant boulders on either side. It was like entering into another world!
Arch Rock Nature Trail was perfect for our family (with children ages 7, 9 & 11.) A The trail itself was a safe and easy path, yet there were insanely fun rocks everywhere for our kids to climb on! It was a rock scrambling paradise and our kids were beyond ecstatic!
As the path continued, the rock formations became more and more bizarre. Now I realize that the picture above makes this area seem a little more dangerous for kids, but it looks so much more dangerous than it was. Each rock here really was not that high and I felt that they had a lot of grip. Honestly, I was more worried about the possibility of snakes here than my children falling.
After exploring this fantastic rocky landscape, we came around the corner on the trail, and there it was, Arch Rock!
Arch Rock
Standing under Arch Rock was spectacular and this trail turned out to be our family’s favorite trail in the entire park! When we visited, early on a Sunday morning in June, there was almost no one here, it was still cool out and we really felt like we had this amazing rock wonderland all to ourselves. I hope that you can be this lucky too.
Arch Rock Nature Trail is a fantastic family trail in Joshua Tree National Park and definitely one to check out!
Park Blvd
After visiting Arch Rock Trail, we headed back to Park Blvd, which is the main loop on the northside of the park. Here, we continued on the loop, heading towards the town of Joshua Tree.
Driving Park Boulevard is a great way to see Joshua Tree National Park, even if you only have a few hours. This road takes you right past many highlights, unique rock formations, fun hikes and of course groves of the famous Joshua Tree.
For our family, our first stop on this loop, heading west, was the Jumbo Rocks area, and Skull Rock.
Skull Rock
Skull Rock is a fantastic road side stop on the Park Blvd Loop in Joshua Tree National Park. You can literally see this unique skull formation right from the road. (This also makes this attraction more crowded, so my advice is to try and see this early, before the crowds arrive.)
The area surrounding Skull Rock is a complete rock wonderland! And my first thought was that this area would be perfect for my kids (who will climb any rock put in front of them.) I couldn’t wait!
Can you see my oldest son, Spencer, in the middle of the picture above?
This landscape is incredible!
And yet, this landscape was completely nerve racking, especially with our youngest who had just turned 7. The rocks here were so much bigger than at the Arch Rock Trail and the drops between them were scarier (especially when exploring with kids.) This rocky landscape was also so much larger, that I was worried I was going to lose someone if I took my eyes off them for a split second.
So although I can see why everyone raves about how incredible this area is, (and for adults and older kids it would be an absolute blast) but for me Arch Rock Trail was a better hiking/ rock scrambling experience for us with our younger children.
After leaving the Jumbo Rocks/ Skull Rock area, we headed 15 minutes west to our next stop down Park Blvd to the Hidden Valley Nature Trail.
Hidden Valley Nature Trail
Distance: 1 Mile Loop (Limited Shade)
Hidden Valley Nature Trail is a great trail that wanders among fantastic rock formations and past numerous agave and yucca plants in this hidden desert oasis of Joshua Tree National Park.
Even though this is an oasis, this trail is very exposed, so make sure you definitely bring plenty of water with you and have a good sun hat before you set out to hike this trail.
To get to the Hidden Valley Nature Trail, you’ll park near the Hidden Valley Picnic area. Here there is a nice parking lot, bathrooms, huge rock formations and (right by the picnic area) lots of Joshua Trees.
If you are looking for a good photo opportunity, go to the west end of the picnic area. You’ll see a short trail to the backside of the huge boulders where it opens up to a wonderland of rocks and Joshua Trees.
The Hidden Valley Nature Trail itself, begins east of the picnic area. This is a 1 mile loop that meanders through a narrow corridor, over rocks and past some really fantastic rock formations and landscape!
Look how incredible his landscape is!
Another fun thing about this trail, when we visited in June, was all of the beautiful yellow flowering yucca plants along the path. They were so pretty and a wonderful surprise in this arid landscape.
Hidden Valley Nature Trail is a great trail to hike and we absolutely loved its fantastic landscape!
The Joshua Tree
Of course I can’t forget to show you some of the many cool Joshua Trees that you’ll see in Joshua Tree National Park.
Most of the Joshua Trees that we saw were located towards the west side of the Park Boulevard Loop, so don’t worry if you aren’t seeing any at first when on the east side near Twentynine Palms. (I had been worried and that’s why I wanted to mention it here.)
I think the Joshua Tree is absolutely fantastic! They’re twisted and spiky and like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss Book. They look completely unreal!
Fun Facts About the Joshua Tree
Did you know that the Joshua Tree is almost only found here in the Mojave desert of California. (There are a few in western Arizona and in the San Bernardino Mountains as well, but the overwhelmingly majority are here in this small area.)
I also find it fascinating how this unique “tree” can actually grow in a desert. It simply seems so out of place in this land of cacti and agave plants. This is yet another thing that makes the Joshua Tree so incredible.
But did you know that the Joshua Tree is not actually even a tree. Instead it is considered a succulent (a type of plant that stores water) and it’s a member of the Agave family. This “desert tree” continues to be full of surprises and amaze everyone with how uniquely it has evolved.
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a absolutely fantastic place to visit, with its bizarre trees, cool cacti and spectacular rock-scrambling terrain. Our family had an incredible time and I can’t wait to one day return (to sleep out here under the stars and further explore this fantastic rock wonderland.)
I hope you discovered some amazing sites that you would like to see for yourself in this fantastic national park.
And I hope that you too will have an incredible adventure visiting Joshua Tree National Park.
Have a Great Time Visiting Joshua Tree National Park with Your Traveling Feet!
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