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Recommended Activities inside Joshua Tree Park
There are hundreds of things to do in Joshua Tree - both inside the Park and out. For those seeking high adventure, rock climbing and or horseback riding are of course the top choice for the athletically inclined.. Hiking is the next level down of the adventure scale and the park offers many beautiful places to seek adventure. Finally, there are a host of wonderful places that can be accessed by driving. Below are some recommended activities when visiting the park.
| Visit Hidden Valley The "hidden valley area" is composed the Hidden Valley Campground, Intersection Rock and the Real Hidden Valley. A visit to this area is in the author's opinion the best introduction to the Park. The hidden valley area is reached by driving up Park Blvd from Joshua Tree. You will pass the Joshua Tree Ranch, pass the park's west entrance, and about 20 minutes later, you will see the Intersection Rock Parking lot on the left. . We suggest you park you car at the Intersection Rock Parking Area and look around at the rock climbers and get yourself oriented to the area. The most popular hike in the Area is the 0.5 mile walk to Real Hidden Valley (park at the "real hidden valley" parking lot) but the most interesting hike is the 0.5 miles Chasm but this is a "super local only secret spot" that is more like spelunking than hiking. Good luck finding it!. |
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| Desert Queen Ranch Tour The National Park Service offers guided tours of the Desert Queen Ranch, an historic miners and cattlemen's ranch inside the National Park. The tour requires reservations and the not at super convenient hours but definitely a great service provided by the park. Many of us have been on the turn multiple times. It is great. Call the National Park for more information. | |
| Drive to Key's View & Eureka Peak. Key's View is arguably the best know view inside the the park and is easily accessible from the park's west entrance and the "hidden valley area". However, we also suggest Eureka Peak - it is not so easy to find but offers an extremely memorable drive and view - a 2 hour round trip from JT. Other fund destination drives are Cap Rock and Jumbo Rocks. | |
| The "I See Dead People" Hike a.k.a. Celebrity Death March. This obscure hike was invented by local Wally Barker and Mark Jones back in 2000 just before Mark died of leukemia. Anyway, there are all kinds of famous people who were either are/were buried, cremated, killed or crash their airplane here. The list is musicians, miners, and outlaws includes Johnny Lang, Graham Parson, Worth Bagley, Frank James. The search for these secret places is fun and is a good way to learn the colorful history of the region which ranges from gold rush era to cattle rustling to wild west shootout to controversial pardons by the governor of the State of California to bodies being snatched from the LAX. |
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Joshua Tree Ranch |
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Mile 2.9 up Park Blvd. |
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Gateway to Joshua Tree National Park |
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