I didn't know anything about Joshua Tree NP before our trip here, but since it was close to Palm Springs and we had a week to kill, we figured we would explore it. What a great idea that turned out to be!
Joshua Tree became a National Monument under Franklin Roosevelt and then a National Park under Clinton (gotta love those Democrats). Over 700,000 acres, three quarters of it wilderness, including both Mojave and Sonoran desert ecosystems, Joshua Tree is an amazing place--especially if you like rocks and climbing them. This park is a very special place with unique rock formations and thousands of joshua trees making it a very unique and fun national park.
We camped in two campgrounds, one of which was especially scenic. We were camped in the shadow of 60-foot rocks with views of desert all around us. You could hike in any direction and find piles of rocks to climb and explore. With only 18 camp sites scattered over the area, we felt almost alone in this beautiful place. We spent many days hiking, rock scrambling and just sitting in the quiet beauty of the desert. What a great place!
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| Joshua Tree |
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| Our campsite at Belle campground |
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| A few Joshua trees are just starting to bloom |
What a great place this is! Quaint downtown with an eclectic/surf casual atmosphere mixed with more Mercedes, Ferrari's and Bentley's than you'll see this side of Monaco. We, of course, are renting our space for $55 a night here in the state park which has views as good as many of the multi-million-dollar homes in Laguna Beach. Homes on the edge of the bluff overlooking the Pacific or on the beach start at about $5 million and several are listed on Zillow for $25 million to $35 million and more. Who can afford to own these places?! Anyway, we get to have the same view and drive the same roads and eat at the same fish taco stands as the rich people. Ain't America great!
