Joshua Tree National Park: Spring Desert Camping (Pt. 1)

These are the show notes for the first of three guest appearances by Lauren Eber, from @afamwithavan about spring desert camping in the great American west. In this three part trilogy Jeremy interviews Lauren about Joshua Tree National Park. Then Death Valley National Park. Then Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Lauren loves all three of these locations dearly and she has extensive dry camping experience in all three locations with her family and their beloved van. To listen Jeremy interview Lauren about Joshua Tree National Park, click on the media player above. Or subscribe to the The RV Atlas wherever you get your podcasts. Or just read on for Lauren's extensive show notes about Joshua Tree--in them she includes recommendations for camping inside and outside of the park. She also includes great recommendations for activities and a few options for great food. She will be back again in our next two posts with overviews of Death Valley and Valley of Fire! Stay tuned for the complete trilogy!

Springtime Desert Camping: Joshua Tree, Death Valley, and Valley of Fire

To me, spring camping means deserts! The shoulder seasons, spring and fall, are the best time to go to the desert, because the weather is most comfortable. In winter, deserts can have huge temperature swings and get very cold (even snowy) at night. In summer, temperatures can be dangerously hot and dry, and many parks even close. That leaves spring and fall as the best times, but spring has the added benefit of “desert bloom,” or the blossoming of wildflowers. Bloom times vary based on elevation, when and how much it rained that year, etc., so if you are trying to catch a big bloom, follow the park’s social media sites, or call the ranger station for updates. 

There are tons of great desert parks to hit during springtime. For example, I always recommend spring as my favorite time to catch Utah’s Big 5 parks. Last year we had a great trip in Zion, Bryce, Lake Powell, and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It’s also a great time to visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (North Rim can still be snowed in) and other destinations in Arizona, like Sedona.

But today, I’m going to talk about three specific spring desert camping options I love, all of which are in striking distance of travel hubs and could easily be combined with other activities for a really fun spring break getaway: 1. Joshua Tree National Park; 2. Death Valley National Park; and 3. Valley of Fire State Park.

Joshua Tree National Park

Getting There: About a 2.5 hour drive from Los Angeles or a 3 hour drive from Las Vegas. The main areas of the park are accessed along Park Blvd., which runs from the West Entrance in the town of Joshua Tree to the East Entrance in Twenty-Nine Palms, creating a big horseshoe to the south of Highway 62. Note that there is no park shuttle, so plan to have your own transportation.

Overview: Joshua Tree is an iconic National Park. It’s not for nothing that it’s the title of U2’s most popular album. It is a special place with a magical energy, an other-worldly combination of granite boulders, tufted Joshua Trees, and scrappy desert wildlife. It’s hard to spend time there without it leaving at least a little bit of an imprint on you. Slow down and let yourself be taken in by the giant rock formations, starry sky, and unique flora and fauna.

What’s a Joshua Tree? Joshua Trees are tufted, spikey plants from the Agave family that look like they came out of a Dr. Seuss book. They were named by Mormon immigrants who named them after the biblical figure, Joshua. They can grow as high as 40 feet and may live as long as 500 years, though 150 years is typical. The crazy branching occurs as a result of flowers being nibbled by moths and rodents, causing new branches to shoot off in other directions.