How To Have An Epic One Day Trip To Joshua Tree National Park

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

Do you have a bucket list of U.S. National Parks that you’d like to visit before you kick the bucket? Joshua Tree National Park is one of several U.S. National Parks that I’d like to visit and this weekend I finally got to check it off my bucket list. In a perfect world you need at least a day or two to see the park and experience what the park has to offer, but we (my friend Alyssa and I) only had a few hours last weekend.

We only spent six hours at Joshua Tree, but we did it our way!

Here are a few things that we did that worked for us (and may work for you if you like to wing it).

How It All Went Down

A few weeks ago I casual asked Alyssa if she has been to Joshua Tree National Park and she said that she hadn’t, so being spontaneous and powerful women we scheduled the trip for second weekend in November. It would be a girls trip that would consist of visiting a few spots, hiking, and doing a photo shoot.

Well things didn’t go exactly as we planned.

First off, we left later than we planned because I wanted to sleep in. I stayed up until 4 a.m. on Friday night because I needed to pack. I watched a show on National Geographics and that really threw me off schedule. On Saturday morning I had two errands to run (Subway and CVS to grab sunblock…yes black people need to wear sunblock too) before we left town, which made us leave an hour later than anticipated.

An hour and half later we arrived in Yucca Valley and stopped to have lunch. If you plan to dine out in Yucca Valley, I’d suggest searching online for restaurants before you leave. There are plenty of fast food restaurants and a few restaurants, but if your a picky eater, plan ahead.

Before You Enter Joshua Tree

Here are a few things you need to know before going into Joshua Tree National Park:

• Make sure to gas up before entering the park. There are no gas stations in the park.

• There’s no cell phone service in the park and the rangers warn that your GPS may not work. Bring a map and compass.

• The desert is no joke! People have died in desert because they weren’t prepared. Joshua Tree National Parks website has a packing list for things that you need. Here is a link to their website https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is located in California desert and is a two hour drive from San Diego. There are plenty of things to do when your at the park. There are hiking trails, rock climbing, bird watching, and educational exhibits throughout the park. I recommend stopping at the Visitors Center before you head to the park to buy a parking pass and to talk to a ranger. The rangers are knowledgeable and will direct you to points of interest throughout the park.

On the weekends Joshua Tree is very busy . There’s tons of visitors and I wasn’t expecting that many people to be there. Fall is a great time to visit Joshua Tree because the weather is cooler and the park is huge so you’ll still have plenty of quiet solitude.

Tip:

• Buy your parking pass at Visitors Center and make sure they give you a pass and a map! The line to get into the park can be long so having your pass in hand when you drive by the rangers booth makes the line move faster.
• Dress in layers (it gets cold after sunset).
• Bring plenty of water (I brought 6 gallons for the two of us)

Be Flexible With Your Itinerary

Alyssa and I planned to hike and do a photo shoot, but we only had time for the photo shoot. Plans change and its okay! We had a great time and we spent plenty of time walking through the desert in platform heels and dresses ! Things can go f

Bring A Buddy

If your going out into the desert you need to have a buddy! Safety is the number one reason to bring a friend, but its also great to have someone to laugh with. Alyssa was the perfect person to go to Joshua Tree with because she goes with the flow and is super funny. Alyssa was my stylist, photographer, chauffer, and partner and crime for the day.

It’s great to have someone to sing Foreigners “Hot Blooded” at sunset, discuss the meaning of life, and of course my latest crush. I can’t imagine going to Joshua Tree with out a buddy to lift me up and keep me from getting bored.

Have A Photoshoot

Have you ever been on Pinterest and seen other bloggers with amazing outdoor photos? The main reason why we decided to go to Joshua Tree was to do a photoshoot for my blog and to get out of town for a day. Below are some tips to having an amazing photo shoot.

Tips

• Come earlier in the day so you use as much light as possible. We only have about two hours of sunlight left, but we got some amazing shots

• Bring a tripod! This is something that I neglected to bring with me and could’ve used. I have a mini tripod that I use to take photos and record vlog post and it does the job.

• Bring a variety of clothes to change into. Alyssa hooked us up and basically cleaned out her closest so I could have clothing options. We got some great shots and the scenery in the park is desolate but absolutely stunning.
• Bring lightning for night shots even if it’s just for taking videos on your cellphone. This is another critical item that I left off my packing list. We took a few videos and only had the car lights on which wasn’t ideal.
• Bring a flashlight so you don’t delete your photos off your camera! We took about 100 photos and in one instance I erased them all by accident. It was a nightmare trying to get the photos back but I did it! No matter how well you think you know your camera always take that extra step to transfer your photos to Icloud or Google Drive immediately.

This one day trip didn’t go perfectly but that is the beauty of a road trip. If you do a little planning, come prepared, and be flexible you also will have an epic adventure!