It's the Joshua Tree's struggle, that gives it its beauty.

The most iconic trip of 2021 took #TeamTangy to visit Palm Springs, California to visit Joshua Tree National Park. Wild and wacky Joshua Trees. Rugged rock formations and giant boulders. That arid desert landscapes. Dark starry night skies. And even a rich (and quirky) cultural history! That’s Joshua Tree National Park in a nutshell — and it’s 100% worth visiting. Our trip to Joshua tree made me fall in love with the desert-like I never thought I could.

Mars-like landscapes, wacky trees, super strange rock formations, and overwhelming views describe the beauty of Joshua Tree NP in a very modest way, but no words can do the justice of this beautiful place.

I have never seen a place this crazily beautiful. The spiked leaves of evergreen trees in the Mojave Desert are the signature of this beautiful wilderness.

JTNP hosts about 2.8 million visitors every year.

What made this trip extra extra special was because

- This was our first kid-free trip, so we planned difficult hikes and early morning runs which are otherwise hard to achieve.

- We were there during the full moon time so even though we weren’t able to track the milky ways but the presence of a huge moon watching over us made the views extremely surreal.

- We had a blast living in an airstream for our stay and the experience was unique.

Joshua Tree is very easy to cover but there are no restaurants, lodging, gas, or grocery stores within the park, so you 100% need to prepare ahead! But everything is accessible just outside the park within 10 mins drive in the city of Joshua Tree.

Geography

The park is roughly the size of Rhode Island and it spans two desert ecosystems — the Mojave and Colorado!

The Mojave Desert is the higher and cooler of the two, and where you’ll find the highest concentration of Joshua Trees. The landscape of the Colorado Desert is dotted with cacti, including the Cholla Cactus. The lower Coachella Valley is on the southeastern side of the park with sandy soil grasslands and desert dunes.

Joshua Trees are not Trees.

In fact, they are succulent and are native to the Mohave desert. They’re actually part of the Agave family, and the plant used to make tequila.

Location

Joshua Tree National Park is located right between a bunch of major cities and makes it easily accessible from anywhere in SoCal, or even from Las Vegas or Pheonix.

We rented the car from Las Vegas and drove through the great Mojave preserve where we already encountered the spikey wacky Joshua trees. The beautiful drive during early evening hours and setting sun with the beautiful big moon made us stop at so many insta spots.

The best way to hit JTNP is to be there from sunrise to sunset so reaching the city the night before made the itinerary very easy to accomplish.

JTNP has a bunch of amazing restaurants, and we chose the Saloon with live music to kickstart our rockstar trip to nature’s miracle.

Stay

We stayed in a one-of-a-kind experience in an RV/airstream with the most wonderful host and their dog Bella. This airstream had a romantic setup with a fireplace and string light ambiance. This Airbnb experience had more comfort than a big house. Highly recommended.

JTNP has 2 entrances and since we started exploring the park in the wee hours, there were no park rangers at the entrance, so we paid for the ticket at the exit.

Other tips

- No gas station

- No cell service

- Bring a lot of water

- Bring snacks

- Vehicle fee - $30.00

- Don’t hike alone and keep an eye for wildlife

Perfect one-day itinerary

Driving around yourself is the only way. Thankfully, it’s hard to get super lost since there are only 2 main roads throughout the park (Park Boulevard and Pinto Basin Road). You can see a whole lot at Joshua Tree on a one-day driving tour of the park. There are only 50 miles of the main road between the Cottonwood Visitor Center and the town of Joshua Tree (the furthest points), so it’s easy to see a lot in a day!

HEMINGWAY - Hemingway is the large rock closest to the main park road. We started our park visit from this location and it was marvelous. Most of the climbs are on the east side of the buttress, so it can be a nice place to climb and we did before the sun was up in the freezing wind.

KEYS VIEW FOR SUNRISE: Keys View is the highest vantage point in the park, meaning there are epic views from up here, and it’s a great spot to watch the sunrise! The viewpoint looks out over the entire Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault, the Salton Sea, and the San Gorgonio Mountains. When it’s an exceptionally clear day, you may even be able to see as far as Signal Mountain in Mexico!

SKULL ROCK AND JUMBO ROCKS CAMPGROUND: Located right off the main road, you’ll find a giant rock that looks like a human skull! When viewed from a particular angle, it’s easy to see how it got its name but we took an extremely interesting hike to see the skull rock. Jumbo Rocks ground was another magnificent site that looked just out of mars.

ARCH ROCK: An Arch in the rocky garden over a huge boulder and a pretty walk — as long as you know where you’re going! The whole trail is pretty short, at just around 1.2 miles roundtrip.

I was silly and was wearing a dress, meaning I couldn’t climb up to take a photo! Boo — don’t be like me!

HIDDEN VALLEY AND HIDDEN VALLEY NATURE TRAIL: The Hidden Valley Nature Trail is one of the most popular hikes in all of Joshua Tree. And because of that, it gets pretty crowded.

RYAN MOUNTAIN: The perfect place for stargazing.

BARKER DAM: One of the milder trails in the park, Barker Dam Trail travels only 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in a single loop with very little elevation gain and no intense rock scrambling required. The trail covers many of the highlights of the Mojave Desert, offering a broad look at the plantlife that comprises the ecosystem and monzogranite boulders of all shapes and sizes.

CHOLLA CACTUS GARDEN: Our last stop here but there’s no Joshua Trees here! And that’s because the Cholla Cactus Garden is located near the midpoint of the Park, closer to The Colorado Desert (eastern part of the park).

COTTONWOOD SPRINGS: Cottonwood Spring Oasis, one of the best-kept secrets in Joshua Tree National Park, is just seven miles from the southern entrance to the park. It was getting late for us so we didn't choose this hike but there is always the next time.

Hope this helps you plan out your day trip to Joshua Tree National Park! What are you looking forward to most in this vast protected area in southern California?!