On Friday morning we woke up early and headed towards Joshua Tree National Park. This is our fourth National Park as a family and we were so excited to explore it. We always hop out of the car to take a picture at the entrance to the park.
We stopped at the Visitor's Center on the way in to ask about hikes. I had done a little bit of research and written down hikes that I thought might fit our family, but it's always best hearing it from the park rangers. The park ranger was so great. He pulled out a map and highlighted all of the stops he thought we should explore. With our map in hand we headed out to explore. I was really grateful for that map, because it turns out there is NO cell service at all within the park!
We headed to Barker Dam for our first hike. It's a relatively easy 1.1 mile hike. We got about 3 minutes into the hike before we stopped multiple times to climb the big rock formations.
At the end of the trail there are some ancient petroglyphs that are cool to see!
Next we drove to Skull Rock. We were all pretty hungry and decided to eat our picnic lunch before seeing skull rock. There is absolutely no shade at Joshua Tree, so we ate out of the back of our car. We lucked out and had pretty perfect weather, but I could see where it would be absolutely brutal during the summer months.
Skull Rock is right off the side of the road and is a little underwhelming. The kids had trouble telling what they were looking at.
With full bellies we headed to our next hike. We decided to hike the 1.4 mile Arch Rock trail. It involves some pretty good rock climbing skills when you get to the arch. It was absolutely amazing views once you got to the arch.
We made it to the arch! It was so amazing!
They made it to the top of the arch (which a little help from dad!)
They also wanted to climb into this structure. It was much tougher and higher than it appears in the picture!
After getting everyone down, I turn the opposite direction and see this little guy has climbed to the top of a huge structure of rocks! Oh.my.gosh!
We attempted to keep going past arch rock and explore some more, but the climbing got pretty tough and we were too afraid we would get lost without cell service.
The kids were pretty hot and tired after the hike back from arch rock. I still wanted to see the Cholla Cactus Garden, so we drove the 15 minutes to the garden. It was gorgeous, but the kids were over it!
I wish we could have explored the cactus garden more, but we were only there for a few minutes. It was the hottest part of the day, the kids were tired and we had run out of snacks and water. I was amazed at how much water we drank! We drove back to the very front of the park to get more supplies (which is a good, long trek). Next time I would definitely be more prepared! However, it worked out great. All the children slept and got in a good nap before our next adventure!
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