Joshua Tree National Park
National Park #17
Our day in Joshua Tree National Park began with a hike on the Hidden Valley Nature Valley.
This 1 mile trail was a great introduction to the park especially with the interpretive signs that provided great information about the vegetation and landscape of the park.
Hidden Valley Nature Trail
We also spotted a bunch of lizards on the trail.
Our next hike was Wall Street Mill Trail. Isaac discovered an old abandoned truck and Zoe spotted a ground squirrel on the way to Wall Street Mill. The mill itself was pretty neat plus we came across 2 (or 3) more abandoned vehicles.
Then it was off to hike Barker Dam. The big draw of Barker Dam is the water. Even though there had been rains recently, there wasn’t much water in the dam. However, the recent rains means we saw plenty of frogs (they usually spend most of their time underground when it’s dry).
Our Wall Street Mill to Barker Dam hike was about 3.7 miles. The kids officially declared they were done hiking on this trip! But we still had a few things left to see in the park.
Joshua Tree has some amazing rocks!
Then it was off to to check out the Cholla Cactus Garden!
On our way out of the park, we made a stop at the Twentynine Palms Visitor’s Center so Zoe could claim her Junior Ranger Badge.
Joshua Tree was a great way to end our week in the dessert!