One Day in Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is the 10th most visited National Park in America, which ranks pretty high considering there are 63 total. We visited on our trip to Palm Springs, California since Joshua Tree is a mere hour from there. Here’s some “must see” spots if you only have one day in the park.

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Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree has multiple entrances and visitor centers. There are several surrounding cities where you can find hotel accommodations. One important thing to note is that there are absolutely no services at all inside Joshua Tree, which includes gas stations. Make sure you bring in plenty of food, water, and fill up on gas before entering the park. You will need to pay an entrance fee of $30/vehicle to enter the park. Active Duty Military can get a FREE America the Beautiful Pass at the gate by showing your I.D. This pass gets you into all National Parks and is good for one year.
Learn more about entrance passes and fees HERE.
Read more on the Joshua Tree NPS Website HERE.

Sunrise at Cholla Cactus Garden
Easy, 0.2 Miles
If you want to see majority of the park then you’ll want to start your day early. We arrived at Cholla Cactus Garden right after sunrise. The colors over the cacti were absolutely beautiful. This trail is super short but you can walk as far in the garden as you’d like. Beware, the cacti are everywhere so make sure to watch where you step.

chollac cactus garden joshua tree national park

We couldn’t resist doing some photos here.

Pit Stop at Ocotillo Patch
This is a really quick stop at a pull-off area to see a specific type of cactus called an Ocotillo. An Ocotillo is one of the coolest cactus I’ve ever seen. Its got green leaves and thorns all over the branches with a gorgeous red flower at the top.

Arch Rock Trail
Easy, 1.4 Miles
This trail takes you to an area unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Its a spot filled with massive smooth boulders. Two particular rock formations you will see are Arch Rock and Heart Rock. This trail is flat almost the entire way. We saw the most wildlife on this trail including a Desert Hare and Cottontail Rabbit.
View the trail on All Trails HERE.

There is a campground nearby and there are outhouse type restrooms there. Those are the only restrooms for miles, the trailhead does not have restrooms.

arch rock joshua tree national park — Arch Rock

When you get to the area with the big boulders it can be a bit confusing to stay on the trail. There will be black signs with names of specific boulder formations so you can look for those to stay on trail. I highly suggest taking the short walk to Heart Rock too. It is off the Arch Rock Trail by maybe 0.25 mile. Follow the brown signs.

Skull Rock
Easy, 1.7 Miles
We actually did not do the trail here. Skull Rock is visible from the road so I just had Travis pull over so I could walk up and get a closer photo. This area looked a lot like Arch Rock trail with lots of big boulders.
View Skull Rock Trail on All Trails HERE.

joshua tree national park visitors center

Stop by a Visitor’s Center
There are three different visitor’s centers and one nature center you can visit. We like stopping by to browse souvenirs, get our National Park stamp, and grab a Junior Ranger book. Rangers are also at every visitor center in case you have questions or need maps. Most of them also have some small exhibits about the area and history of Joshua Tree National park.
You can view the address and hours for each Visitor Center HERE.

Aurora and I both have National Park Journals. They have space to add notes about our favorite trails, pictures, stickers and the passport stamps. Each Visitor’s Center at every National Park has it’s own stamp. Joshua Tree also has a special Joshua Tree stamp.

joshua tree national park junior ranger program

The Junior Ranger Program is a FREE program available at every National Park. You can pick up an activity book at any visitor center and complete the activities inside the pages. Once you are finished you will turn it in at a visitors center and receive a Junior Ranger badge. If you don’t make it back in time to turn it in then you can always mail it in and they will mail your badge to you. This is not just for kids, Travis and I do the books so we can get a badge too!
Learn more about the program HERE.

Stop in the town of Joshua Tree
Drive out the Northern entrance of the park for a pit stop in the town of Joshua Tree. It is by far one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been in my life. I have very few words I can use to describe it, you just need to see it for yourself. There is a small strip of shops and restaurants you can walk down. I don’t suggest eating lunch here though, its very crowded and you’d waste time waiting over an hour to eat when you could spend that in the park. Instead, we usually pack a picnic lunch to eat in the park.
Learn more about the eclectic town of Joshua Tree, click HERE.

This interesting “museum” looks like something out of an alien movie. It claims to be the smallest museum in the world and is full of crochet items.
Check out more info on the website HERE.

Soak in the Scenic Drive
The stretch of road between the Joshua Tree Visitor’s Center and Hidden Valley Trail is “Park Boulevard” and is the most beautiful stretch of road. This area has the biggest concentration of Joshua Trees in the park. There are several pull off areas to stop and take in the view.
Read more about Park Boulevard HERE.

Hidden Valley Nature Trail
Easy, 1 mile
This trail was one of our favorites. It leads you through giant rock formations, Joshua trees and is the most popular trail for rock climbing. There are tons of massive lizards on the trail, so keep an eye out. They were too quick for me to snap a photo. We saw a variety of different kinds of cacti and some in bloom. We visited the first week of April, generally peak bloom is mid-end of April. This trail does have some port-o-potty toilets available in the parking lot.
View the Hidden Valley Nature Trail on All Trails HERE.

End your day enjoying Keys View
Keys View is the highest lookout in Joshua Tree and on a clear day you can see all the way to Mexico. You’ll get sweeping views of the San Bernardino mountain range and Coachella Valley. This is a paved trail to the top and is only 0.1 mile. This is one of the few places with a port-o-potty in the parking lot.
Learn more about the Keys View Overlook on the website HERE.

How cute is my Joshua Tree National Park t-shirt?! Its by Kaeraz on Etsy. You can shop it by clicking the small listing photo above. They have a ton of really cool graphic tees.