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) and headed into a opening in the rock, hoping it was the right entry to our hike.  We hiked through these slot canyon tunnels and found beautiful veins of quartz or crystals growing in between shelves in the rock wall.  

We hiked up the trail and found ourselves on top of the canyon, looking down onto a small oasis and the Salton Sea in the background (which has a fascinating history btw, it was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal and flooded the area. It became California's largest lake and a luxury resort destination. But since the canal was repaired, it had no other water source and over time it became highly salinated and toxic).  It was pretty awesome. The sun was hot, so we were excited to go back into the cool canyon.

The next day, we went into Joshua Tree itself.  This was at the beginning of the government shut down, so the park was open, but lacking most of their rangers.  They did have a few kind souls volunteering in the visitor center.  We first found a trail that lead to a desert oasis.  We decided to go into the cluster of palm trees and enjoyed time in the shade.  The kids started to build things out of the enormous palm fronds.  We kept hearing an odd buzzing sound and G discovered that there were dozens of bees that were drinking water that was seeping out of the rocks.  It was incredibly weird.

In the same little oasis, Q gave us a major scare when he and Z were exploring atop the fallen palm fronds. Q and Z started to scream 'SNAKE!' and they started scurrying down the pile of fronds.  Apparently, Q had practically stepped on a sleeping rattlesnake that had hidden itself under the leaves.  All was okay and everyone reacted quickly to get away, but we had our eyes extra open after that. See if you can spot the snake in the pic below:

Our next hike was through a large boulder field, aptly named Jumbo Boulders.  We really wanted to camp here, but they only allowed up to 30' trailers.  But it would have been an AWESOME campground! There were so many different cactus plants along the path. It was especially cool to see ones that had died, they are hollow inside full of chambers.  The rocks are also full of holes and chambers, so the kids climbed in every hole.  

We also explored a few of the hiking loops.  They have a bunch of 'windows' that look over the area. We got a little off the path and found an adventurous path back to the main trail. 

It was fun to walk hand in hand and play a game where we figured out what different rocks reminded us of.  Most notable were 'Rock Hard Abs' and 'Heart Rock'. 

Our next animal encounters were lizards.  Lizards are everywhere.  Usually, you see these little ones that scurry away the minute you walk by.  

But we spotted this Chuckwalla in the distance.  Gary dashed off to get a closer look. It was totally worth it, cause he got some sweet pictures of it. 

On Saturday, we went into the Park again.  We found a fun hike that ended with this massive arch.  I am constantly amazed at our kiddos and their ability to boulder and climb.  We met a few (young) adults who we helped over some of the rocks while the kids jumped over gaps and scrambled up steep rocky inclines.  D especially was amazing at traversing the trails... On Gary's back. In fact, she's so adept at hiking that she can even do it in her sleep!

We finished the day in the Cholla Cactus Garden.  I made sure to bring tweezers with me on this hike, since we had a cactus spine incident earlier in the week.  It was a good thing too.  We met this cute couple on their first visit to America from Korea who ended up getting pricked with a spine.  We chatted with them for the rest of the walk. 

We spent Sunday morning sitting outside, listening to General Conference. Nate and Ash met up with us a little while later.  We ended up going back to that first canyon with them.  Their daughters, T and M, were the best companions for the kids.  They were full of knowledge about the rocks, lizards, and bugs.  They were notorious lizard hunters. M especially was the designated lizard whisperer.  Our kids followed their older cousins like little ducklings with their mommas.  

 

Our other notable animal encounter was this tiny little scorpion.  Boy, do they blend into the rocks!

Someone must have had a lot of fun shooting bottles, because the kids collected dozens and dozens of bullet casings of all sizes around the canyon entrance.  

We enjoyed a fun Pulled Pork dinner and chatted under the desert sky. The kids adventured some more, looking for grasshoppers, rattlers, and lizards.  And finally, Nate's family headed back home.  We so appreciated the time together. Thanks for coming out!