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Joshua Tree National Park, photo 1 of 5

Photo: Dietmar Rabich / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Canyons & deserts

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree, CA · Mojave Desert$$30 per vehicle, good for 7 days

About

Joshua trees grow only on the park's high Mojave side. Down in the lower Colorado Desert, ocotillo and cholla take over. At Hidden Valley you can scramble over the granite boulders while climbers rope up on the same rock. Keys View, about 5,000 feet up, looks out over the Coachella Valley and the line of the San Andreas Fault. Go in spring if you want the wildflowers.

Highlights

Joshua trees across the Mojave-Colorado desert transitionBoulder scrambling and rock climbing at Hidden ValleyCoachella Valley panorama from Keys ViewSome of Southern California's darkest stargazing skiesSpring wildflower blooms

Getting there

74485 National Park Drive, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277

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Part of these collections

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.