Joshua Tree

Last month Andrew and I spent a few days visiting Joshua Tree National Park.  Since we were headed to San Diego for a wedding, we decided to tack on a few extra days and hit up a national park.  

It was an awesome trip!  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  And as much as I missed Liam, I must admit that it was very nice to spend several days alone with my husband, just the two of us.  

Since it was August, in the desert, we decided to stay in a cabin.  Our cabin was adorable, comfortable, and well-equipped.  It sat adjacent to the park, and it was so nice to come in midday to nap and relax in the air conditioning.  At night, it was cool enough for us to sit in the hot tub while watching for shooting stars in the desert sky.

View from our front porch into Joshua Tree National Park

I'm fascinated by the flora and fauna of the desert.  Here are some of the various cacti we saw.  I need to give credit to my husband for taking these pictures.  He was up at sunrise exploring on our first morning while I cozily slept in!

On our first day, we took a late morning hike up Ryan Mountain.  It was quite hot but the view from the top was worth it.

View from the top of Ryan Mountain

These dead trees were everywhere and looked like sculptures

After an afternoon nap, we returned to the park that evening to catch the sunset.

The next morning, we were up early for a sunrise hike to Willow Hole.  We had 7.5 miles to cover so we hit the trail early.

Cool enough for long sleeves at dawn

Beautiful Joshua Tree

Willow Hole

Wonderland of Rocks

This hike was my favorite part of our trip.  As we hiked to Willow Hole, we came upon the Wonderland of Rocks. For miles all we could see were beautiful mountains of rocks and boulders piled on top of one another.  It looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

After our hike to Willow Hole, we drove to the southern end of the park and hiked a 3 mile loop up Mastodon Peak.  At the start of the hike is a palm oasis. It was so bizarre to see these huge palms in the middle of the desert.  They housed quite an ecosystem. 

Palm Oasis 

This portion of the park is in the Colorado desert which looks quite different than the Mojave desert, which has the Joshua Trees.  This section was rocky and barren.  If you look closely at this picture, you can see the Salton Sea in the distance. 

View from the top of Mastodon Peak looking at the Salton Sea

My favorite hiking buddy

He's more adventurous than I am!

The old Mastodon Mine is also on this trail. I still can't quite wrap my head around how they built this mine on a mountain in the middle of this harsh desert. 

Mastodon Mine

Later that evening we returned to the park to visit the Arch.

The Arch

View from the White Tank campground

As far as national parks go, Joshua Tree is pretty small so we really got to see most of it in just a few days.  It was a great trip.  We spent some quality time together, did some challenging hiking, and got to explore a really unique landscape.  And, we got to check another national park off our list!  

I just love that Andrew and I share the same love for the outdoors.  It's so nice to journey on these adventures together!