Joshua Tree National Park

[MeZKaL]

It was my first US National Park on my first Road Trip to the West Coast. And the first time I was on a desert. Maybe that's the reason I have some much good memories about it.

There's nothing amazing, as it is in the Grand Canyon, but it have lots of little things that makes it a good place.

I remember great points like Cholla Cactus Garden, Cottonwood oasis, Hidden Valley or Barker Dam.

I stayed one night in the Ryan Camping. There were only 2 sites occupied from the 31 available. I felt the loneliness of the desert and i liked it. And hearing the coyotes howling at sunset and sunrise it's simply priceless.

Finally, I write this post in "Off the Beaten Path" section because it seems to me that people uses to avoid the park in benefit of others.

More info: http://www.nps.gov/jotr/

[Hokaka]

HEY!!

We were planning to just do a drive through the park in june, south to north. Is it a good drive by, scenery wise and so on. We don't necessarily want to stay the night there or anything! And also if we do a drive through is south to north a smart way to do it?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Welcome to this RoadTrip Community Board!

I am not exactly sure what you mean by south to north. Are you planning on traveling on Cottonwood Springs Road? Most of the paved roads in the park run generally east to west.

In any case, there is alot of amazing things to do and see in the park. Especially if you have little fear of heights!

Our good friends at Desert USA Magazine have some really cool tips on climbing and other fun things to do in the park.

Mark

[Nicholas Mosher]

Yup, its beautiful. 112*F when I was there though... *gasp, sweat*
I'm not a rock climber, but I did some scrambling on a few of the seemingly random boulder formations. Sunset was beautiful.

One of my favorite shots there...

[Hokaka]

HEY!!

Well that is a really great picture from the park and I have seen a lot of other good ones as well. Our thinking was that we would go through the Cottonwood Visitor Center and then drive on "Pinto Basin Road" which seems to take you to the North Entrance Station. I'm looking at the www.nps.gov park map of Joshua Tree. We will be driving a rental car so unpaved roads are out of the question, atleast it says so in the contract. We plan to drive during the morning/early afternoon and then head towards the Grand Canyon on the same day.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Another very cool desert hang-out would the Mojave National Preserve and if you have time I would certainly suggest swinging by after you leave Joshua Tree. It might be a little warm in June to hike to the top of Kelso Dunes, but it is my all time favorite way to toast the setting sun. Also not to be missed is the Rings Trail at Hole-in-the-Wall.

[Hokaka]

Thanks for the tips... that one website mentioned above is really a great source. We still have a lot of time to plan as we wont be going until june 10th so there's much research still to do! Thanks again!