Boulder Bouncing At Joshua Tree

Joshua tree is hands down one of my all-time favorite National Parks. A desert landscape with massive sculpted boulders peppered with twisted, bristled Joshua Trees. Located in southern California, Joshua tree sits in two distinct desert ecosystems: the Colorado Desert.

Located in southern California, Joshua tree sits in two distinct desert ecosystems: the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert. Camping at Jumbo Rocks Campground offers an outdoor playground of massive, smoothed boulders beckoning you to climb on and explore. A cautionary note to campers: be ready for frigid nighttime temperatures as it could get down to below freezing at night in the springtime. On the plus side, the night skies above Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert are filled with stars at night. Nearby Anza Borrego State Park is one of the USA’s newly designated ‘Dark Sky’ parks. One of our favorite activities was hiking the Barker Dam Trail. Barker Dam was built around 1900 to hold water for cattle. Today, the dam forms a small rain-fed reservoir favored by park wildlife and especially birds. As we were returning we say many rock climbers scaling the cliffs. Joshua Tree is one of the most popular National Parks for rock climbers.

UPDATE: Just two weeks after we visited Joshua Tree, there was a horrible incident of arson in one area of the park called Oasis of Mara. STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/28/us/joshua-tree-arson-trnd/index.html