Most Recent Visit

January 2026

When to Go

If you plan on doing anything besides driving through, you’ll want to go in the November-April timeframe as the temperatures are cooler and conducive to hiking. Outside of these months, it gets incredibly hot here (over 110 degrees). We last visited in January 2026 and the temperatures started in the upper 40s in the morning and quickly warmed to about 60 degrees by mid-day which was perfect hiking weather. With the sun out, even the upper 40s didn’t seem too cold (Scott wore shorts the whole time). If you want to see the desert blooming – you will want to target the March-April timeframe which brings out many photographers.

How to Get Here

Joshua Tree is quite easy to get to with a little bit of driving. The closest airport is Palm Springs International (PSP) which will require about a 50 minute drive to the main West Entrance Station near the town of Joshua Tree. If you don’t have easy access to that airport, you can fly into either Los Angeles or Las Vegas and have a 3-4 hour drive out to the park depending on which airport you choose.

Trip Length

While the park is large (the park road extends about 70 miles from the West Entrance to the South Entrance), you can easily see the park and complete many of the short hikes in one day. If you are able, it makes sense for it to be a long day anyway so that you can stay for the dark night skies which brings out incredible stargazing opportunities on a clear night. If you want to complete a few of the park’s longer hiking trails, you might consider adding another half day.

Where to Stay

There are several hotels in the town of Joshua Tree, just outside of the West Entrance, which are not going to break any budget. This keeps you close to the park and allows you to go take nap midday if you finish hiking so you can stay up late in the park looking at the amazing night skies. However, if you want to be in a “more happening” location, you can stay in Palm Springs which is about 50 minutes away from the west entrance. You’ll find a wide variety of restaurants, golf, shopping, and additional hiking opportunities. We chose Palm Springs because Scott was playing in a golf event before our day in Joshua Tree. Palm Springs will be more expensive lodging compared to the hotels closer to the park.

We spent a few days at a Vrbo with some friends and our last two nights at the Holiday Inn Express – Rancho Mirage and would recommend both.

What to Do

There are primarily three activities that we’d recommend in Joshua Tree National Park: hiking, scenic driving, and stargazing during the dark nights! Before you do anything though, we’d recommend stopping at one of the three visitor centers to get ranger updates on hiking trail conditions or any ranger guided activities taking place that day. You’ll find these visitor centers located near the West Entrance, North Entrance, and South Entrance.

Hiking

You will find mostly short hikes in Joshua Tree which take you out among the cactus and incredible rock formations within the park. Here are some of the hikes that we would consider must dos:

Hidden Valley (1 mile, 114 feet, easy)

This is a must do if you visit Joshua Tree. It is an easy one-mile loop trail that will give you plenty of cactus views but also introduce you to some amazing rock formations which was a bit of a surprise to us. Once you enter the valley, you will be surrounded by rock formations on all sides which were formed by lava being pushed up out of the earth. If you had time for only one hike in the park – we would choose as it gives you a little bit of everything!

Cap Rock (0.4 miles, 22 feet, easy)

This is a very short hike, but gives you great views of Cap Rock itself along with other rock formations and plenty of large Joshua Trees. There are also typically two ranger guided hikes/talks at Cap Rock each day in the cooler months which you can take advantage of to learn even more about the area and the park. These last less than an hour.

Hall of Horrors (0.6 miles, 26 feet, easy)

You won’t find this trail on the official park hiking list that comes with your park map. But we’d recommend stopping here to walk the 0.6 mile loop as there are many cool rock formations around. This is actually a top rock climbing spot in the park and you may see rock climbers in progress while you are hiking around. The trail itself is a little hard to follow, but you can literally walk anywhere here, so it is more important to make sure you are going in the right general direction versus following the exact trail.

Discovery Trail (0.7 miles, 68 feet, easy)

This trail is located right in the middle of a popular park area – Skull Rock & Split Rock. You can use this trail to connect to the separate Skull Rock or Split Rock trails which are a bit longer. However, the trail itself is also very cool. You will get great views of Face Rock (part of which looks more like a Woolly Mammoth to us) and you’ll walk through a small slot canyon. Across the street from the trail start you can get a closeup view of Skull Rock as well without hiking the entire Skull Rock trail.

Heart Rock & Arch Rock Trail (1.7 miles, 114 feet, easy)

This is also a popular trail as it takes you to two iconic rock formations within the park. You’ll hike for a while and then come to a fork in the trail. Go left, and you will arrive at Heart Rock where you will want to take plenty of photos. Once done here, go back to the fork and head right this time to go out to Arch rock which is another really cool photo spot. It can be a little challenging to get up into the Arch – but certainly doable for most people. While we were there, a couple had climbed all the way to the top of the arch which we certainly do not recommend as it didn’t see safe to do so.

Scenic Driving

The park road is quite long at about 70 miles from West Entrance to South Entrance and offers scenic viewing the entire way. If you don’t have the ability to hike, it is still worth visiting and driving the road as you can see a lot of the cool rock formations (Cap Rock, Skull Rock, etc.) from the road to go along with Joshua Trees and other cactus plants everywhere. One site not to miss is Keys View which will give you a view of the Palm Springs valley as well as views of the San Andreas Fault which runs through the area.

Once you get through the Heart Rock / Arch Rock area, the rest of the road is mostly scenic viewing. The other park highlight is Cholla Cactus Garden which was closed for maintenance on the day we were in the park. There is a 0.25 miles trail here when open, but you also can experience this incredible part of the park from the road. There are thousands of Cholla Cacti here which was really amazing to see. Once you pass here, you can either turnaround and go back the way you came (especially if your hotel is in the town of Joshua Tree) or continue on to the Cottonwood area at the South Entrance which allows you to connect with Interstate 10 and head back to Palm Springs.

Stargazing

Joshua Tree National Park is world famous for its dark skies which give incredible stargazing opportunities on a clear night. If you have time, it is well worth heading out of the park roads during night hours. Some of the official stargazing spots are located at Quail Springs, Hidden Valley, Cap Rock, or Ryan Mountain which are all in the center of the park. However, we’ve been told some of the best spots are actually just on the side of the road between Cholla Cactus Garden and Cottonwood on the south end of the park. Regardless of where you choose, you are going to have some amazing night skies that you likely cannot get at home due to all the light pollution that exists in our daily lives these days.

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