Continuing our journey westward, we landed in the small town of Twenynine Palms, CA. I am assuming that somewhere in the vicinity are 29 very cool looking palm trees, but we were on the hunt for the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. Turns out there are several entrances to the park, but we wanted to check out the Visitor’s Centre, so continued on to the town of Joshua Tree. Here we found out about possible camping options within the park. We also checked out the local Walmart, just in case. From there we continued into the park and were immediately impressed with not only the oddly shaped Joshua trees (they really do look like something from Dr Seuss) but also the amazing boulders strewn all over the landscape of this park. We had no idea that these rocks would be the major attraction that would keep us here for 2 days of hiking. But first, we needed to know where we would be spending the night. Stopping off at one campground, we were struck by how totally amazing it would be to camp out here, between the rocks, the trees and the starts at night – wow! Unfortunately for us, there were no openings at any of the campground within the park – bummer!
We came out of the park back in Twentynine Palms and so stopped in at their Starbucks for a cold drink and to check out our options on iOverlander. We found that there was a casino nearby that looked promising so when we finished our drinks we headed over. The Tortoise Rock Casino was located just at the base of the hills outside of the park in a very quiet area surrounded by desert. We checked with their security and found out that we could get a parking pass and stay for up to 3 nights – sweet! They showed us where to park (we ended up parking in the wrong spot anyways and had to move – silly us!) and we headed over to park for the night. Luckily, we have learned to keep several cold dinner options available for our Walmart and Other camp sites, when cooking outside is not an option. This has saved us from having to always hit restaurants for dinner. It was just great – we had a bathroom nearby, security checking the area and a super quiet place to sleep. It was so great that we ended up staying an extra night.
As I said, the Joshua trees were the initial draw to make us come to this park and they were both plentiful and so varied in their growth. What fascinating trees!
And of course, there were the enormous rocks. The whole place looks like some giants left their toys strewn about the landscape. We spent several days climbing amongst them, never tiring of how beautiful they are.
At one point, we came upon a field of rock sculptures. In Canada, the Inuit people of the north have built these stone markers called Inukshuks for centuries. However, it has become the thing to do. People find natural places with many rocks laying about and build lots and lots of these little ones. Unfortunately, after we built our own addition, we found out from our daughter, Annie, that this is not a good practice as it is actually defacing the natural habitat. It has become such a phenomenon that parks across both Canada and the States ask people to leave the rocks as they find them – oops! Sorry! So, if you come upon a field like this, feel free to scatter them to discourage folks from damaging our parks.
On our last day in Joshua Tree, we drove up to Keys View, the highest point in the park. It sits at the crest of the Little San Bernadino Mountains and from here, you get a spectacular view of the Coachella Valley and the Santa Rosa Mountains in the distance – it was breathtaking!
This turned out to be our last unhurried park stay. By this time, we were hearing quite loudly, that we needed to get home. However, we still had a few places to see and a family get-together on our calendar, but we were definitely feeing the need to move on. What a pity! We could have staying in Joshua Tree for a few more days – it is just a wonderful place to hang out!
