57th Stop - Joshua Tree, CA
Blog Post #68 - Written April 30, 2026 Stay: October 2-5, 2025 Since we skipped the Huntington Beach area, we missed not only my parents, but also my brother Nate. Nate wanted to meet us along our path, so we agreed to meet up in Joshua Tree. We got to Joshua Tree a few days early and checked out the area. We stayed at the Chiriaco Summit Campground, a small, free boondocking (no utilities) campground behind an air force museum, on the south side of the National Park. The surrounding area is pretty vacant, so there wasn't a ton of light pollution, which we always enjoy. It made the sunsets very beautiful. And also the stargazing :) Joshua tree is absolutely fascinating. The land is full of different landscapes, cactus fields, boulders, slot canyons, rocky hills, open flower fields, and a desert oasis. Gary first found a small canyon not too far from our campground. We parked off the side of the road (narrowly avoiding sinking our 2WD truck in the sand...