Joshua Tree National Park?

We're heading there next month and we have the maps, books, etc but wanted to see if anybody had recommendations on their must sees there. We'll be camping in the park for three nights.

This is probably a long shot, but if you've been to the Channel Islands, would love to hear about your trip as well. Thanks!

Hi,
My wife and I went to Joshua Tree a couple years ago in February. Spent a couple of full days there. Some highlights were:

• Lost Horse Mine loop - nice hike with a 360 degree view summit and lots of Joshua Trees on the return part of the loop
• Keys View - outstanding view of San Andreas Fault and Mt. Gorgonio. This is mostly an overlook, versus a hike, but you can hike up higher from the parking lot.
• Skull Rock, Arch Rock and Colla Cactus Garden - nice little walks close to the perimeter road. Touristy, but worth the stops. Nice photo ops, too. Arch Rock has a short hike and some nice scrambling, if you go off the main trail.

Not being a rock climber, I cannot provide any input, except that it was popular there, mostly in the areas between Cap Rock and Arch Rock.

I also strongly recommend the Indian Canyons just south of Palm Springs. Please note that there is an entrance fee of $8.00 per person for adults. They do provide maps after you pay. Here is the link:http://www.indian-canyons.com/. We did three short/intermediate size loops that included walking along the three main palm oases (Palm, Andreas, Murray). All were excellent.

Posting this is getting me excited. We are heading back in about 6 weeks. YEE HAH!

Enjoy your trip

Marty

Thanks for all the info!

Joshua Tree is my favorite place for nude hiking. Get a good map, ride around pick out a peak which looks interesting, and climb up it. Trails are not really needed. You'll have the whole peak to yourself.

If you like to scramble & boulder, Jumbo Rocks is a great place to hang for a day.
Also, if you have a hankering to walk up a 5K mountain with nice views head up Ryan Mountain (West Coasters claim it's steep, but after the 46 it was like being on an escalator) it is about 2 hours up and 1.5 back. IIRC it isn't too far from Lost Horse mine trailhead.
I would also make the drive (not a hike) up to Keys View - I think you can see the Salton Sea (I cannot recall completely) which is all salt and borax now.... It seemed to go on forever.

Also, check out 29 Palms (or is it 49 Palms?) Palms Oasis - you don't have to enter the park to get to it. it is on the north side, about 2-3 miles in. It was pretty nice place with pools of water.

Wish I could provide more, but it has been about 13 years since I was there - I backpacked across on the California Biking and Hiking trail in Feb'96, but had to stash water before the trip on old jeep road/trail crossings. The Trail has posts with markers every few miles - mostly walking up and down desert washes and in and out of 1,000 foot deep bowls, but an incredible experience compared to the NE.

One word of caution, my first day there, I jump out of my rental car and head into the desert to pee. the first plant I brush against, rips into my leg with a gash. It was a low-lying yucca/agave plant. Here I was, ready to be a badass and backpack across the desert and 20 feet into the desert, I have to turn and limp back to the rental car spilling blood everywhere.....

What Marty said. I was there a couple of weeks after he was and I got most of my info from him. Hi Marty!

I'd recommend that if you approach the park from the north and come into Twenty-Nine Palms, drive by the marine base there. The displays done up for the soldiers oversees are quite humbling.

I've been hoping to get to the Channel Islands Park for years now. Tell us about it when you get back.


bob

Hey Pudgy. Are you bringing any climbing gear? Are you looking for things to do outside of JTree or only in JTree?

The Ryan Mt. hike is nice and relaxing. I've done it twice. Incidentally, the first time I did it I had just moved to SoCal. I saw several very attractive women on the trail all hiking solo. I thought, "So what they say about SoCal is true after all."

Anyway, if you're only going to be in the park for a few days, any of the hikes will probably be fascinating. Take time to poke around some of the popular rock climbing areas to watch the climbers and scramble around the rock blobs. If you have some money to spend, you could hire a famous rock climber to take you up some of the classic climbs.

Enjoy!

Joshua Tree is my favorite place for nude hiking.

Click to expand...

I hope you have good sun screen.

Thanks for the info Rick. I'll also be sure to watch out for those pesky yucca plants.

DaddyLongLegs -- this is likely a sore point with my husband. He's a rock climber and it's going to kill him to be in Joshua Tree and not climb. If it was just us, I would do some basic stuff with him, but we'll have our two year old daughter with us (I wasn't quite as interested in 'just tethering her to the rock' as he was ). I suggested he hire somebody for a climb (or try to find a partner), but he wasn't interested. So it'll just hiking, etc. for us.

pudgy_groundhog said:

So it'll just hiking, etc. for us.

Click to expand...

Well that makes it easy, especially considering the two-year old in tow. I would recommend doing some of the well-maintained trails marked on the national park map. I've done many of them and they have all been nice.

You might also consider taking the palms-to-pines tram on Mt. San Jacinto and visiting the charming town of Idyllwild. Idyllwild's proximity to Suicide and Tahquitz (multi-pitch climbing areas) will appeal to your husband.

Thanks for the tips!

Highly recommend Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park. We visited it for the first time last spring--it's in our "backyard"--and were blown away by the beauty and solitude. Can't wait to go back--I have aspirations to run my own little 50k there.

Short report on my blog:
http://runsuerun.blogspot.com/2009/04/channel-islands-national-park.html

and more photos:
http://runsuerun.blogspot.com/2009/04/santa-cruz-island-cont.html

PM me if you have specific Qs.

I won't comment on Joshua Tree since others have, but make sure you camp. They have the most wicked awesome campsites there!!

pudgy_groundhog said:

I hope you have good sun screen.

Thanks for the info Rick. I'll also be sure to watch out for those pesky yucca plants.

DaddyLongLegs -- this is likely a sore point with my husband. He's a rock climber and it's going to kill him to be in Joshua Tree and not climb. If it was just us, I would do some basic stuff with him, but we'll have our two year old daughter with us (I wasn't quite as interested in 'just tethering her to the rock' as he was ). I suggested he hire somebody for a climb (or try to find a partner), but he wasn't interested. So it'll just hiking, etc. for us.

Click to expand...

Not the Yucca but the Cholla!!
The climbing is among the best in the US (but so popular holds are getting polished), in its own way, but the hiking is as good and you can take advantage of the early/late light, wonderful there. Can't go wrong. Have fun!

Just wanted to update and say thanks for the input (especially to Stinky for the Santa Cruz blog entry). We did hike Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree and the rest of the time did the short nature trails/walks around the park (very scenic and perfect for our toddler). Unfortunately, we didn't make it to any of the oases -- return trip.

Santa Cruz was beautiful. We were there mid week and while there were a lot of day visitors (we went in on President's Day), there were only two other campsites taken. The rugged coast was scenic, picked oranges on a hike, star gazed, and saw dolphins and whales on the boat ride. Hard to believe only 50,000 people make it there a year considering how close the island is to a major population center. But good for those of us who make it there. We met an older couple there that had been to all the National Parks (and many of the national others ... historic sites, etc). Pretty cool.

Not only was the trip itself wonderful, it was nice to escape winter for a week. All our pictures are posted here and a few favorites:

Santa Cruz:


Joshua tree (and our first try at star trails):

DaddyLongLegs said:

The Ryan Mt. hike is nice and relaxing. I've done it twice. Incidentally, the first time I did it I had just moved to SoCal. I saw several very attractive women on the trail all hiking solo. I thought, "So what they say about SoCal is true after all."

Click to expand...

I've climbed Ryan mountain... a couple hundred feet higher than Marcy, but a piece of cake in comparison. Kind of a weird experience.