Cholla Cactus Garden in the lower desert plains of Joshua Tree National Park 

Joshua Tree National Park, California

 

Before boarding Baby B’s first international flight to Palm Springs, we asked our readers to recommend some attractions. A common recommendation was a visit to Joshua Tree National Park, so we planned to spend an afternoon exploring the fabled US National Park.

Knowing very little about the park, we jumped in the car and made the 45 minute drive from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree (the city), located northwest of the national park. We entered the park from the west entrance near Black Rock Canyon and traveled south to the entrance/exit near Cottonwood Mountains – here is a map.

Originally, we thought we would spend a few hours exploring the park (including the 45 minute drive). But after pulling into the tourist centre to grab a park map, we quickly realized just how huge it is (789,745 acres to be exact!).

“It takes approximately two hours to drive”, said the uniformed Park Ranger.

“Seriously?!” we replied. With a 3-month old baby on-board, we didn’t know what we had just committed to. It’s one thing to plan for a 2-3 hour trip, but a 5-hour road trip is a completely different story (it takes an hour to get from the south entrance back to Palm Springs).

Let’s just say that it wasn’t Baby B’s finest hour - he screamed for a solid 45 minutes - but the stunning landscapes made it well worth the detour. No pain, no gain – right?!

Below are some photos from our trip to Joshua Tree National Park

 

Rock climbers scaling the smooth rock formations

Peculiar desert landscapes

 The park road snaking between interesting rock formations

A native Joshua Tree, the inspiration for the park’s name

Desert landscapes – the perfect backdrop for an old Western movie

Park road splitting a forest of Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert

Entrance to the Cholla Cactus Garden hiking trail

The otherworldly Cholla Cactus Garden – very unusual

Close-up of the Teddy-bear cholla  in the Cholla Cactus Garden – don’t touch!

Cholla Cactus Garden

The endless lower desert plains of Joshua Tree – you don’t want your car to breakdown here!

 Dramatic panorama in the Colorado Desert

 The Joshua Tree National Park Store near the town of Joshua Tree

 

An old saloon in the town of Joshua Tree. It kinda has a wild west feel about it, doesn’t it?

 

So what makes Joshua Tree National Park so extraordinary?

The park is a transition zone between two deserts, the Mojave desert in the higher elevation and the Colorado desert in the lower plains. The varying temperatures create a rare eco-system with distinct plant species (like the unusual Cholla Cactus Garden pictured above). The unique rock formations in the park were formed over 100 million years ago, eroded by groundwater that shaped the peculiar outcroppings.

It’s no surprise that the park is hugely popular with rock climbers, mountains bikers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. We’d love to return when Baby B is a little older and we can spend a few days exploring the park, camping under the desert stars – it must be quite the spectacle!

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Have you visited Joshua Tree National Park?
Share your experience and travel tips in the comments section below

 

The Extraordinary Landscapes of Joshua Tree National Park, California is a post from: Traveling Canucks

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Traveling Canucks

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