Joshua Tree National Park

Working 4 shifts a week can make adventuring on our days off a little difficult, not to mention hotels and most restaurants were closed during our first few weeks here. Thankfully we all had 2 days off together and we decided to take a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park!

Joshua Tree National Park is roughly two hours and thirty minutes from us making it a perfect day trip. The park is not very big, so you can cover most of it in 1 day (we also did not have a choice since no hotels were open and camping was prohibited. Similar to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, most of the hikes are short and rated as easy so you can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time!

If you do not have a National Parks Pass and are big on National Parks, I highly recommend getting one! It is roughly $40/park/day and the pass is $80 for an entire year... it is a win-win to me! Recently a law was passed for all active military and veterans to receive this pass for free. AWESOME! Aaron, being a veteran, was able to get the free pass. Thank you active military and veterans for your service!

Once we got there we pulled over to a random little spot to check out the trees and rocks.

Then we headed to Skull Rock. Our original plan was to do Ryan Mountain, but there was no parking so we decided to do that last. Skull Rock is a super short hike and once you park it is an easy walk to see it.

After that we headed to the Face Rock trail and Split Rock.

We somehow got lost and ended up walking the road back from Split Rock. It was supposed to be a loop trail, but somehow we missed it. Then we headed to the Cholla Cactus Garden. This was really cool for Aaron and I especially since when we hiked Cupcake Mountain in Lake Havasu City, AZ, we learned about these a little too well. These cacti have little balls that will attach to anything walking close enough... Well if you have read the post you already know that Aaron had to pull each needle out of my leg and finger, and I had to do the same to his knuckle. It was a mess. So yes, if you go here keep your distance. If you see them anywhere, keep your distance!

Following that we headed to Ryan Mountain which is a 3 mile hike and rated as strenuous. In the 1.5 mile one way, you gain 1,050 feet! It will definitely get your heart pumping. Aaron was exhausted, so he took a nap in the car while Meredith and I headed to the peak.

To our surprise, once we got to the top it was snowing!

We took our pictures and headed back down to the car.

This was the last hike we planned, but we took one last stop at the Hall of Horrors to check it out and take a few more pictures.

After this, we drove back to Woodland Hills and grabbed food at the Carving Board to end the day.