TheSamba.com :: View topic - Trip Report: Couple Nights in Joshua Tree

Sat Mar 08, 2025 12:32 pm

Cindy's Birthday was coming up. Got online a couple weeks in advance and reserved a campsite in Indian Cove for a Tuesday & Wednesday at JTNP. Lucky I did; all campgrounds were full both nights, midweek.

We pulled into the West Entrance about noon, had some lunch and headed for the Hidden Valley Nature Trail, a low-impact loop with about a 100 foot change in elevation. Cruised around the Park then went though 29 Palms to top off the tank for 9:30 tour in the morning.

View West from the Campsite

Quarter Moon and Jupiter over the Hills

Campsite #4 Indian Cove

Where We Camped

Still Life with Kettle

Next day we headed to Keys Ranch for a Reserved Tour at 9:30. Bill Keys homesteaded in Joshua Tree starting in 1910. He left in the late '50s.

No framing in the house. The boards hold it up.

Our Guide, Cheyenne, by the property's windmill.

View from the South side.

Campsite # 31 for future reference

We were happy to see improvements being made in the Park. Newly paved roads throughout, a new West Entrance building and kiosk going up. Restrooms were in good shape. No horror stories like some of the other National Parks right now.

Temps were mild; low 80s in the day, mid 40s at night. It rained a bit Wednesday night, couple of pretty good gusts of wind. Just like campin' out.

We highly recommend a trip to JTNP. Do your homework, make reservations, act like an adult.

Happy Trails,

Dan

Sat Mar 08, 2025 12:45 pm

Nice! You even got to see a newly endangered species!

Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:08 pm

that'd be funny if it wasn't so true :(

khughes wrote: Nice! You even got to see a newly endangered species!

Sat Mar 08, 2025 2:37 pm

thanks for the ride.

Sat Mar 08, 2025 7:52 pm

I always enjoy your trip reports. Thanks for taking us along.

Sat Mar 08, 2025 8:26 pm

Hi, Dan:

Great report, as always.

We both hope things are going well, and hope we meet again.

Sat Mar 08, 2025 9:08 pm

I used to frequent Joshua Tree before it was made into a national park. Becoming a park ruined it, it became more over crowded and built up. It used to be more wild, nature like, once it became a park it was more like a Disney Land place.
These areas are or were great for vanagon camping. Lots of neat places to hike and lots of rock climbing.

Nice photo set you provided, brings back good memories of the place

The desert lands are very cool to explore and camp in. The minerals, the plants, and animals are fantastic.

Bring a UV flash light and be amazed at how some rocks glow in bright colors under the UV lamp.

Sat Mar 08, 2025 9:23 pm

Awesome!

Sat Mar 08, 2025 9:59 pm

Nice report. I've spent countless days and nights in J-Tree, it's still a place I enjoy. Even that campsite looks familiar.

zerotofifty wrote: ...Bring a UV flash light and be amazed at how some rocks glow in bright colors under the UV lamp.

And so do the scorpions!

Sat Mar 08, 2025 10:47 pm

I always enjoy your trip reports. Thanks for taking us along.

Sun Mar 09, 2025 3:40 am

Thanks for the trip and the passenger seat view!

Sun Mar 09, 2025 8:51 am

Thanks for sharing! I haven't taken the family to JT yet but it may have just moved up on the list. Looks like lots to explore. Midweek FTW!

Sun Mar 09, 2025 9:43 am

zerotofifty wrote: I used to frequent Joshua Tree before it was made into a national park. Becoming a park ruined it, it became more over crowded and built up. It used to be more wild, nature like, once it became a park it was more like a Disney Land place.

I can see how you might feel that way. However...

Last time Congress didn't sign a Funding Bill there was no one minding the store. People trashed the restrooms or didn't use them at all. People pushed over mature Joshua Trees with their 4Xs and went off-roading through the desert. No rules! Anarchy!

Back in the day, fewer people, less anger, fewer controls were needed. If some of the precious places we enjoy weren't Parks, there would probably be a lot less to appreciate.

Just my two cents.

Dan

Sun Mar 09, 2025 10:18 am

shadetreemech wrote: Got online a couple weeks in advance and reserved a campsite in Indian Cove for a Tuesday & Wednesday at JTNP.

Dad & I have stayed at JTNP every August, either at Cottonwood or Indian Cove, for a decade enroute to/from Laguna Seca Raceway. A few years ago, the reservation thing royally cheesed me. Drove all the way into Cottonwood, "must now have reservation; no service here, must return to park boundary to make reservation". Even in the hot summer months when it's off-peak visitation?! "Yes." Drove all the way back out and said "screw it!" and camped on the BLM land.

shadetreemech wrote: Back in the day, fewer people, less anger, fewer controls were needed. If some of the precious places we enjoy weren't Parks, there would probably be a lot less to appreciate.

People also had morals and respect back then.

shadetreemech wrote: If some of the precious places we enjoy weren't Parks, there would probably be a lot less to appreciate.

Parks are one thing, "urbanizing" them is another. But I totally agree. In JTNP's case, as well as Grand Canyon, they still have desolate places where people can literally disappear... in many tragic cases, until their remains are found.

Sun Mar 09, 2025 10:22 am

shadetreemech wrote: zerotofifty wrote: I used to frequent Joshua Tree before it was made into a national park. Becoming a park ruined it, it became more over crowded and built up. It used to be more wild, nature like, once it became a park it was more like a Disney Land place.

I can see how you might feel that way. However...

Last time Congress didn't sign a Funding Bill there was no one minding the store. People trashed the restrooms or didn't use them at all. People pushed over mature Joshua Trees with their 4Xs and went off-roading through the desert. No rules! Anarchy!

Back in the day, fewer people, less anger, fewer controls were needed. If some of the precious places we enjoy weren't Parks, there would probably be a lot less to appreciate.

Just my two cents.

Dan

Making these places parks seems to bring out more undesirable elements. Perhaps it is the promotion these places get once made into a Park.

As for these funding standoffs, it is oft made into a show to inconvenience the public as much as possible. There was one funding stand off where the government closed I think it was some outdoor monuments in Washington DC with barricades, just to tick the public off.
As for law breakers trashing trees and buildings, You and I likely have the same opinion about them, and it aint pretty.

Keep them trip reports coming.