Guide to Joshua Tree National Park

 

Things to know about the park 

1. We found it to be extremely family friendly and prefect for hiking with little kids. Most of the hikes are 2 miles or less- there are some bigger hikes in the park but not very many. Also there are plenty of places to run around. 

2. There are two main entrances to the park- the Joshua Tree Entrance- which is in the town of Joshua tree and the Twenty Nine Palms entrance- which is in the town of Twenty Nine Palms- if you are looking to avoid the crowds I would recommend the Twenty Nine Palms entrance. 

3. Best time of year to come is late fall- early spring. We came in January and the weather was perfect 

4. Remember that you are in the desert and plan accordingly- sunscreen, hats, sunglasses and plenty of food and water 

5. Compared to a lot of other parks this park is actually located nearby civilization. We were surprised how close everything was to us. We are used to national parks being in the middle of nowhere. 

6. Depending on how much you want to do I think this park was very doable in two days. If we did a super long hike we could've turned it into 3 but I was 28 weeks pregnant so a long hike was not in the cards for this trip. 

Hidden Valley Trail-

1 Mile loop- easy. Very fun trail for families. Very popular trail in the park- for good reason- but if you can try to do it in the morning before the parking lot gets too crowded. 

Barker Dam Trail 

Another easy family friendly trail close to Hidden Valley Trail. 1.1 mile easy loop.  Don't expect any water in the dam- it has long since dried up- but still a fan and very family friendly hike. 

Cap Rock 

This is a great place to have a picnic and it has a small (1/4 mile) walking trail. This was the perfect area for us to eat lunch and then let our toddler burn some energy before putting him in the carrier for a hike. 

Keys View 

Key's view is a 30 minute drive from the Joshua Tree entrance. It gives beautiful views of the San Andreas fault and the San Berindino Mountains. It was a lot colder here then in the rest of the park because you have to drive up a bit. Well worth the drive- I can imagine it would be gorgeous at sunrise or sunset. 

Cholla Cactus Garden 

Cholla Cactus Garden is roughly 30 minutes from the Twenty Nine Palms entrance. This is an area completely full of cholla cactuses- very neat to explore. There is a "path" but it's more choose your own adventure and you can wander through the cacti as long as you want. Be careful! They are sharp!

Arch Rock

Arch Rock Trail is a 1.2 mile hike that starts at the twin tanks parking lot. This is a very easy hike and also very family friendly- lots of rocks to climb on and explore.  

Split Rock to Skull Rock Trail 

This ended up being my favorite hike in the park. I think partially because it wasn't as popular and therefore wasn't as crowded- but I found all the rock formations along the way to be really interesting. We started at split rock and hiked to skull rock and then back which was roughly 2 miles total. Very easy and family friend but not as popular as some of the other trails. Skull rock is very popular- because it's one of the most instagramable spots in the park- it's but just a quick photo op and we quickly turned around and ran away from all the people.