6 Great Things to do In Joshua Tree, California
We just recently returned from a trip to Southern California. It was my first trip down there since 2019 and definitely overdue. While I wish we had more direct options for flights in Victoria, I am very glad that we still have Alaska Airlines flying to Seattle a couple of times a day. From there you can get to so many places in a relatively short amount of time. In years past I have flown into San Diego and Los Angeles from Seattle, but I had never flown into Palm Springs. This trip changed that. If you have never flown into Palm Springs International Airport, you get the warm climate intro with a significant outdoor portion to the airport. The only other airport that comes to mind with such a large outdoor area is Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Flying into Palm Springs opens up a whole different set of options for your visit to Southern California over flying into other places. For us, the big opportunity was being able to drive less than an hour to Joshua Tree and arrive at an amazing rental in the middle of the desert. The place we were staying was less than a 10 minute drive to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Centre. While we did a lot on this trip and saw a pretty broad swath of southern California, our time in and around Joshua Tree was my favourite. I have put together a list of six of my favourite things we did in the area, though keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, there was way more that I enjoyed, I just had to end it somewhere.
Cholla Cactus Garden
If you are going out to Joshua Tree, you are going to visit Joshua Tree National Park. It is truly an amazing park. I had been when I was a kid, but coming again really cemented the reason that countries create national parks, this is a unique and beautiful place. There are likely a thousand places within the park that will blow your mind, but I think if you are looking for one magical place that really makes you look at the world in the different way, especially if you are coming from Victoria, Canada, the Cholla Cactus Garden will do that. The thing is, that there are no Joshua trees in this part of the park, in fact it is a completely different desert from the one that is home to the Joshua tree. The Cholla Cactus Garden is about 10 acres of dense cacti, mostly the Teddy bear cholla cactus. There is a great little loop trail that takes you out amongst them. It is hard to describe how magical this place is, you are just going to have to see it for yourself.
Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum
If the Cholla Cactus Garden is not enough of an anomaly in the middle of a desert, than you need to head over to the Noah Purifoy Desert Art Museum. This large outdoor art gallery (at least a couple of acres) is the work of Noah Purifoy. Purifoy spent the last decades of his life using our cultural and societal garbage as parts of his art installations. Noah Purifoy is an amazing artist and he had an extensive career outside of the works shown here. I would encourage you to read some of the information available on the museum website about him. Walking around the site, there are dozens of separate installations which may be a single piece or an intricate combination of different ideas in one. Many of the installations take advantage of the surrounding desert as part of the artistic scene. We went early in the morning and it was not too busy which was nice because we could take our time to enjoy it. I expect it gets busier later in the day. The site is open every day of the year. If you are in the area, this place needs to be on your list. On reflection of my trip, this is one of my favourite places I visited.
Joshua Tree Coffee
Just before heading into the park on our first day we decided to get some coffee. We hadn’t realised that the President’s Day Weekend would be so busy in around the park, but it was and that spilled over to our coffee destination for the morning, Joshua Tree Coffee. Located on the 29 Palms Highway right across from the visitor’s centre for the park, it is a popular stop in Joshua Tree. We got in line and had to wait a decent amount of time to get the coffees, but we found out that the lines weren’t just there due to proximity to the park, the coffee was amazing. Outside the back of the cafe was a little artists market. I don’t know if it is always busy at Joshua Tree Coffee, but it is well deserved so if you want to get a great coffee before exploring some of the other sites on this list, I would highly recommend it.
Transmission
Transmission is another art installation in the middle of the desert. Located about 15 minutes away from the Joshua Tree Visitors centre is a relatively new and beautiful art sculpture. Transmission was created by Daniel Popper, the South African artist known for large installations such as Thrive in Fort Lauderdale and many others. The idea behind Transmission is to remind visitors of their spiritual place in the world. Unfortunately, you can’t go right up to the sculpture and instead have to enjoy it from afar, however, standing at about 10 metres, it is an impressive piece. Once in front of the sculpture, if you turn around, you have an absolutely amazing view of the valley off towards Joshua Tree National Park. We visited earlier in the morning and there were still quite a few people there to see the sculpture. I would also recommend that you drive to the sculpture from the south as the roads approaching it from the west are quite rough.
Pioneertown
One of the mornings we were in Joshua Tree, we thought we would check out Pioneertown, not really knowing what it was except that it was supposed to be sort of a western ghost town. On the way there, I read up on the place. Built just after the Second World War as a business venture, Pioneertown was supposed to provide a ready-made movie set for anyone trying to recreate a frontier town from the 1880’s. Unlike other movie sets though, it was also supposed to be a real town at the same time. It apparently worked and appeared in numerous movies and TV shows. Nowadays it is still both a real town and a potential movie set. When we parked, I immediately noticed that some of the buildings along Mane Street (yes, this is spelt correctly) were houses and it was clear that people were living in them. We walked along the road and peeked in some of the stores and some of the more just-for-fun aspects, like a town jail. I imagine that if you are staying in the town and are able to enjoy a beer in the saloon before walking back to your accommodation, it is probably a pretty fun place to be. No matter what it is worth the short drive from wherever you are staying in the Joshua Tree area. Pioneertown is about 10 kilometres north of Yucca Valley or about 19 kilometres west of the Joshua Tree Visitor Center.
Frontier Cafe
The area has three main towns along the northern edge of Joshua Tree National Park. Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. We stayed in Joshua Tree and it is certainly the closest town to the main entrance, it seemed as though Yucca Valley had the most services like grocery stores and other shops. After visiting Pioneertown, we wanted to get some food and do a little shopping so we headed for Yucca Valley and parked outside the beautiful Frontier Cafe. After visiting some of the nearby stores to get some souvenirs we headed into the historic building. Unfortunately, despite me looking, I couldn’t find any specifics on what the building used to be, it is clear that it has been in the town for a long time. The cafe has a wonderful street-side patio and inside it has really tall ceilings with tin stamped tiles. Just as it was when we went to Joshua Tree Coffee, the Frontier Cafe was busy with a long line out to the front door. That said, the line moved quickly and we were able to order and find a table while we waited for our food. We had a couple of sandwiches and they were great. We also had a couple of iced coffees and they great as well. If you are looking for a lunch in Yucca Valley, I would highly recommend a stop at the Frontier Cafe.
I could easily double this list with all the things that there are to do in Joshua Tree. I can hardly wait to go back. If there is a place that I left off the list that needs to be on here, make sure to leave a comment!
