As I continue to plan out extensive trips, and then personally experience them, I find that my biggest obstacle is the fleeting, tricky presence of Time. Why can’t there be 3 of me?? So Me 1 can spend three full days in Joshua Tree Park, Me 2 can hop from art work to art work, and Me 3 can still have enough time to go thrift shopping in the desert and ogle Palm Springs architecture. But alas, the short winter days cut through my precious Joshua Tree plans like a mirage cuts through a desert horizon. Regardless here’s an account of this fascinating place and its mysterious art, followed by all other note-worthy areas that I hope you’ll be able to visit.
The Park
Well, what can I say… I didn’t expect Joshua Tree to disappoint and it certainly didn’t. I’ve wanted to go to this place ever since I lived as a student in San Diego – there was a mysterious, calm desert somewhere out there, beckoning to me with its rolling flatness and bizarre trees, which somehow reminded me of the baobabs in the Little Prince... I didn’t end up going until way after I moved back to the Bay.
I booked a thoughtfully-designed AirBnB for us, 5 minutes from the park entrance and sporting a wall of French doors open to the (nearly) barren wilderness. The space was a perfectly curated desert retreat, complete with palo santo and woven blankets. In the proper mood, we drove the 1 mile to the park, watching as the Joshua Trees gradually increased in number, and eventually blended with rolling dry hills and other-worldly rock formations. I had an entire list of destinations to stop at throughout the park but, given my aforementioned discord with Time, we only explored a few (don’t worry there’s a list of all the good stuff for you below). Like I said – it’s hard to be disappointed. If you’ve ever wanted to go to another planet, no need because Joshua Tree is that – a compilation of landscapes and quirky silhouettes you’d never expect to see in the same place together. Alien-like trees reaching up towards the sky with their spidery hands, enormous boulders that seem to be held upright by invisible strings of anti-gravity, fuzzy, seemingly-harmless cacti peppered across the Earth as far as the eye can see… It truly was one of the most unique places I've ever visited.
Our desert retreat
Cholla Cactus Garden
Amateur rock climbing
Points of Interest:
Mark these down in Google Maps
Hidden Valley Nature Trail – Best way to experience the park in a 1-hour hike
Barker Dam – A true oasis
Lost Horse Mine Trail – Abandoned ghost mines
Keys View – For the vista seekers
Skull Rock – For the mountain goats
Cholla Cactus Garden – Fuzzy cactuses! Everywhere!
Ocotillo Patch – More cactuses
Cottonwood Spring – more beautiful hiking
Getting there:
Joshua Tree is about 3-4 hours from Los Angeles, depending on traffic. To cut down on expenses, we flew in to Burbank airport and rented a car, which took about 3 hours with moderate traffic. Keep in mind – the best months to go to Joshua Tree are either November or March. We took advantage of the Thanksgiving break but this also caused for really heavy crowds at the nicer dining spots.
Where to eat:
Downtown JT and the surrounding towns are quite small and there are only a few places that fit my standard of ambiance (💁🏼♀️). Some good ones are La Copine, Pappy and Harriett’s, 29 Palms Inn, Joshua Tree Coffee Company, and Pie for the People. This isn’t to say there aren’t any great holes in the wall, but with our time limit, we went straight for the best. If none of these fits the bill, Palm Springs is only an hour away.
The Art
The awe doesn’t stop at the borders of this magnificent park – all throughout Joshua tree and the surrounding towns (if you look hard enough), you can find little pockets of creativity hidden in desert corners, undoubtedly inspired by the landscape of the surrounding nature. Or if not directly inspired by, then existing in beautiful harmony with it. We visited a few of the spots I deemed most unique and most appropriate to our schedule and here are some highlights (but more spots are listed below).
Monument House – Originally designed by Josh Schweitzer as a holiday retreat for friends in the 90s, this unique house may be out of commission based on what I saw but it’s still a very unique place to see atop a cactus-strewn, rocky hill.
Art Queen – This is an open air gallery in downtown Joshua Tree, complete with the world famous Crochet Museum, two quirky little shops, a theatre, and rotating art exhibitions. A running theme here (and in Joshua Tree in general) is that the art is often recycled, which I believe forces people to address abundance, consumerism, and convenience in America. And if you can look past the boring label of “trash art”, a very funky world awaits you.
The Station – Really bummed we didn’t get to stop at this gas-station-turned-shop/event space, because it certainly has the right amount of retro, desert aesthetic. Stop in here for unique souvenirs, $1 drip coffees, and curated vintage.
Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Museum – This enormous collection of installations and found-object sculptures (100+) is the work of Noah Purifoy, who launched his art career with his reactionary art exhibition during the 1965 Watts Riots in Los Angeles. Coupled with the space-like desert landscape, this sweeping expanse of peculiar structures takes you to another world – another planet, actually. Headless mannequins, upright catamarans, toilet columns (yes, they do look cool), aluminum yurts (to keep out the alien visitors), and tons of old TVs reflecting the setting desert sun. Sounds like a clusterf**k but the sheer magnitude and attention to detail is astounding when you see it in person. Noah’s art was also an homage to the landscape and he was known for labeling it “Environmental Sculpture”, then waiting eagerly to see how the temperament of the desert would shift, even improve, his works.
Other works:
Joshua Tree is a thriving art community and there are constantly new installations popping up throughout downtown and far, far into the actual desert. High Desert Test Sites (a non-profit collaborative art organization) is a great place to find what’s out there and how to get to it, as well as Atlas Obscura.
Desert Christ Park – Creepy Christ sculptures on a desert hill
Pioneertown – An old Hollywood movie set that still functions as an actual town
The Integratron – Used to be an "electrostatic generator for rejuvenation and time travel”, is now a sound bath dome. You can't get more obscure than that.
Elmer Long’s Bottle Tree Ranch – Thousands of colored glass bottles reflect the sun and whistle a tune with the wind
Krblin Jihn Kabin – A heretic’s cabin, part of the fictional world of Eames Demetrios.
As I’m approaching the end of this post, I’m finally coming to terms with the nagging feeling I’ve had while writing it – I have no choice but to return to the high desert as soon as Time permits.
Barker Dam
Bonus feature:A mid-century peak at Palm Springs
With literally half a day at my disposal and probably less than 2 hours of actual daylight, I tried to grab as much mid-century modern inspiration from Palm Springs as I possibly could. The culmination of this being – grabbing brunch with my trip crew at King’s Highway. And you know what? It did not disappoint. The food, the music, the architecture – all satisfied my craving enough to hold me over until I return, and when I’ll be prepared to visit every house in this article. We also meandered through downtown before dinner at The Tropicale, a place I highly recommend for a 50's tropicana vibe.
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