📷 Photo by Cedric Letsch on UnsplashJoshua Tree National Park
Rock-climbing boulders and forests of spiky Joshua trees where two deserts meet.
- Established
- 1994 (park)
- State
- California
- Deserts
- Mojave & Colorado
- Best season
- Oct–Apr
Before you go
- There is no water in most of the park. Carry at least a gallon per person per day.
- Campgrounds fill on weekends from fall to spring, so reserve early.
- The Cholla Cactus Garden is best in late light.
Driving through
Enter at the west or north entrance near Twentynine Palms and drive Park Boulevard past Hidden Valley and Skull Rock. Pinto Basin Road then drops south into the lower, hotter Colorado Desert.
FAQs
Is Joshua Tree too hot in summer?
Daytime highs often top 100°F. Hike at dawn, or visit between October and April.
Places to see
Photo by Vladimir Haltakov on UnsplashJoshua Tree National Park
Two deserts meet among granite boulders and spiky yuccas. The skies here are some of the darkest in…
© Chris Hunkeler from Carlsbad, California, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Salton Sea State Recreation Area
California’s largest lake, created by an accidental flood in 1905 and now slowly shrinking and very salty.…
© stevelyon · CC BY-SA 2.0Amboy Crater
A near-perfect cinder cone rising from a black lava field next to Route 66. The trail to the rim is…
© Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0Cabazon Dinosaurs
A steel-and-concrete brontosaurus and T. rex from the 1960s–80s beside I-10. You can climb up into the T.…
© Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0Roy's Motel & Café
Its Googie sign in the middle of the Mojave has been photographed more than almost any other on the road.…
© No machine-readable author provided. Miskatonic assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 2.5Fonts Point
A rim above the eroded Borrego Badlands, spectacular at sunrise and sunset. The four-mile access road is…
Photo by Richard Hedrick on UnsplashGalleta Meadows sculptures
More than 100 rusted metal sculptures of dinosaurs, horses and a giant serpent scattered across the desert…
Campsites nearby
- Cottonwood CampgroundCampsite16 mi fromTentsCaravansDrinking waterToiletsWaste disposal
- Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV CampgroundMotorhome stopover22 mi fromCaravansMotorhomes
- Desert ShoresMotorhome stopover22 mi fromMotorhomes
- Outdoor Resort IndioMotorhome stopover23 mi fromMotorhomes
- Motorcoach Country ClubMotorhome stopover23 mi fromMotorhomes
- Emerald Desert RV ResortMotorhome stopover23 mi fromMotorhomes
All campsites in California · Campsite data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 · Updated October 3, 2026
