In October 2016 I took a trip to Joshua Tree, I never got around to posting the pictures from that trip. Well it's 2017 now so better late than never I guess.
If you've never been to Joshua Tree let me explain little bit about why its so special. First off this funky looking trees are only found one place in the world and thats the Mojave desert, and there are only 3 types of subspecies of them and still they all reside in the Mojave. Then you add in how they look as if they are from another planet and it gets better, they can grow 14 -40 feet tall and almost 3 feet wide with roots that can grow up to 30. The name came from the 19th century Mormons who crossed the desert and thought it looked like the prophet Joshua pointing up to the sky to the promised land. The Joshua tree can live up to 1,000 years old if properly taken care of but have an average life span of 200 years.
Camping out here is a special treat for sure, its a dark spot so you will see the stars clearly at night (during my trip is was cloudy at night so I have no night sky pictures) and you are most likely are to be treated with awe-inspiring sunset, the sunset here in the desert was one of the most beautiful desert sunsets I have witnessed.
When you make your way into the park your met with an expansive open space to explore. Joshua Tree is the only National Park with no real designated trails. You are allowed to roam where ever you'd like and climb anything you feel comfortable.
So when visiting pack that daypack full of water, lunch and a first aid kit because you'll end up climbing everything is sight and are bound to get a few cuts.
The park is full of magnificent rocks and natural structures exploding with life.
When climbing the park its best to leave the big cameras in the car and just throw your phone in the day pack and take pictures with that, trust me, climbing while holding a camera and worrying about a expensive piece of equipment is more stressful than rewarding in this case. I learned that really quick and swapped out my heavy camera for my phone and began to just roam the whole park.
You'll find lots of cool wind tunnels and sometimes you'll even find some cute things in the rocks made by nature. Joshua Tree is a place where your childhood dreams of climbing everything in sight can come true all the while you'll get blessed with some striking views.