An Ideal 18 Hours in Joshua Tree National Park

If you’re like us and are just a short drive away from the Indio Valley area, you have the perfect opportunity on your hands to experience the majesty of Joshua Tree in a quick 18 hours. Here’s how we did it…

Start by planning for this trip in the Winter! I know. Crazy, right? Go to the place known for record summer highs in the coldest, windiest time of year? There is massive upside in the lesser-trafficked times of year, as you might imagine. But this theory of ours is not only due to the (necessary) avoidance of massive human populations, including lots of hipsters from downtown LA who found some LSD and took it, and all their “open-minded” friends out to the nearest open spaces to wreak havoc on the natural beauty. There is plenty of that in the hotter months, none of it in the Winter. Plus, there’s a chance you’ll get there on a wetter week than normal, meaning plenty of chances for skies full of rainbows. Rainbows in Joshua Tree are not easy to come by, but ever the more beautiful for their rarity. We settled on a mid-December brief stop as we were headed through the area on our way toward Phoenix for the longer portion of the weekend, and this, we’ve determined, is the ultimate way to experience J. Tree.

If you’re looking to sleep on the cheap, head for Twentynine Palms to spend the night, either camping out in the desert highlands just outside the town’s limits, or hole up in a cheaper hotel or motel. If you’re really trying to boujee-it-up for the weekend, you might plan six to eight months in advance and book an Airbnb for the night’s stay. This will not, however, be the money-wise experience you may be looking for. Besides, Twentynine Palms is just 20 minutes down the road from the town of Joshua Tree and has its own entrance to the park. Plus, doesn’t it just sound better when you’re recanting the trip to jealous kin at holiday gatherings? “Twentynine Palms..”

Next, wake up before the sun does. It is totally worth the bit of grogginess later in the day for those of you not attuned to that waking schedule. We are both early risers, especially when camping (as we did this trip), and we love to beat the rest of the travelers in the region to the good sunrise spots. Once you’ve shaken off your morning cobwebs, take the entrance to the National Park from Twentynine Palms. Not only will the line at the ranger station be non-existent, but you’ll be a much quicker drive to the most epic cactus garden you’ll ever experience at sunrise in your life, the Cholla Cactus Garden. Just make sure you’re awake enough at this point to wade your way through thousands of the most sneakingly painful cactuses - should you fall or walk into one - known to man. One or two in the foot is enough to leave you wincing the rest of the day. But the cactuses are half of the fun of Joshua Tree, anyway!

When you’re through at the Cactus Garden, choose one of the easily accessed pull-offs with big, climbable boulders on the way back to Park Boulevard, and sit just to enjoy the calm and vast valleys in front of you. We took a nice twenty minute moment to wrap up in blankets, close our eyes while perched on the boulders, and meditate. Communing with the cold and recognizing the bliss in sitting in silence in a national park is something we keep coming back to with each new (or revisited) one we’ve made it to.

If you’re like us, you’d like to include food throughout your day. If you’re still reading this, that means you probably do - because you’re human. Humans need to venture back into the town of Joshua Tree and duck into Natural Sisters Cafe for some lattes and breakfast. We opted for the vegan scramble and the “Bomb Breakfast Sandwich”. So bomb. If you’re looking to stock up for the rest of the day, our next favorite find was The Dez Fine Food. So many fun, nutritious snacks and plenty of material for the most epic desert charcuterie board one can create. 

Okay, now that you’re full and stocked for the rest of the day, it’s time to head back into the park for some hiking, wandering among the world famous trees and cactuses, and tortoise spotting. Oyster Bar is an area of the park with excellent three or four hour hiking. Just enough to get your physical on and have an amazing view of the entire national park at the tip, while not stretching your day out into night by the end. We were able to find multiple areas for bouldering and climbing which we’d one day love to have our best college try at, but James is still nursing his ankle injury, so we had to accept our fate as flat ground walkers and picnic squatters for the day.

Once you’ve hiked and built up enough warmth and appetite to sit out and eat all that food you’ve picked out, an afternoon picnic is the perfect way to end your time in Joshua Tree. There are plenty of picnic tables scattered throughout those pull-off areas, or you can just pull your car to the side of the road (safely) and choose a big patch of boulders to climb up and set up your blanket and snacks on. The accessibility of Joshua Tree for the less physically capable is truly one of its most redeeming benefits. We love that we can spend a lazy day in the park and still feel like we’ve had our classic national park-style experience.

To head out of the park once and for all we took Pinto Basin Road out to Highway 10, but you could most certainly choose to go through Joshua Tree again if you’re headed towards the Southern California coast. As we were headed to Phoenix, this was our quickest way out, but in another situation, we certainly would have stopped in to Joshua Tree, the town, and went in and out of all the incredible thrift stores and secondhand shops that scatter the main drag. If you’re in the mood for a quick dinner after your long day of sidestepping Joshua trees and desert snakes, try the fare at Crossroads Cafe. 

Bask in the day you’ve just experienced in one of the world’s most unique locales, then you’re off again, on to your next adventure. We know you’re going to love Joshua Tree National Park. But go in the Winter…just trust us.