California - February 2017 - Day 4

February 11, 2017 (Saturday)

Time to cross out another National Park Site, this time Joshua Tree National Park. Our first stop was the Joshua Tree Visitor Center, which had a medium size display area. We picked up the park newspaper which highlighted different hiking options. Down the road from the visitor center was the park entrance, where the fee is $25/car (or free if you have a NPS pass). The pass is valid for 7 days.

Joshua Tree NP

Hiking was plentiful throughout the park.  We hiked the following trails on our drive thru the park: Baker Dam, Hidden Valley, and Keys View (not much of a hike, more just an overlook with a steep walk to the top).

Joshua Tree NP

The only trail we had a problem with was the Skull Rock trail. We visited the rock and then picked up the trail across the road from it, we had intended to do the Discovery Trail loop, but somehow we must have missed a turn. The next sign that we came across had the arrow pointing the direction that we had come from.  Finally the trail wrapped to the road and we discovered we were on the Skull Rock trail, which then cut us thru the parking lot of the campground before putting us back on the trail. We did not attempt to find the trail that we wanted, but moved on down the road to the next trail.

Upon leaving the park we stopped at the Oasis Visitor Center. Again the visitor center was not overly large. There are restrooms, bookstore, and water fill stations available.

We had lunch at Pappy and Harriets in Pioneertown.  We were told it would be an hour wait, but to check back in 15-20 minutes.  Well we checked back at 20 minutes and they already had our name crossed off the list!  Luckily they were able to set us immediately and we did not have to get back on the list. The food was just okay, I had the pulled pork and the cheese fries. The atmosphere was neat. The place is basically an old barn. The place is well known because famous musicians (Paul McCartney in 2016) stop by and play there.

Joshua Tree NP

After lunch we headed back to Joshua Tree, to the Black Rock Nature Center area. The visitor center was small, but the staff was very helpful regarding hiking options. We hiked the Hi-View Nature Trail. The trail has numbers along the way and there is a guide book at the visitor center to help you understand the plants and general topography. The hike is 1.3 miles if you start at the trail head. You can also start near the visitor center to make the hike a little longer.

The only area of Joshua Tree that we did not visit was the Cottonwood Spring area.