Exploring the National Park, downtown Joshua Tree, and staying at AutoCamp!
Living in Southern California, i'm lucky to only be about 2 and a half hours away from Joshua Tree. It's one of my favorite weekend getaways during the spring, fall and winter months. I recently went back in December of 2022 and here is how I spent the perfect 24 hours in Joshua Tree.
First we started our morning bright and early at Crossroads Cafe and it's how every morning should start in Joshua Tree. Get here early, this place is known for having a wait. We got here around 8 am on a Sunday and got seated within 5 minutes. We ordered the Mikes Mess and Banana French Toast, solid choices but you can't go wrong with any item here.
Next we headed about 5 minutes south to Joshua Tree National Park but first stopped at the Visitor Center. Now Joshua Tree has two entrances, the west side located in Joshua Tree and the south side located in 29 Palms. The Visitor Center in 29 Palms has since closed, so if you want to go into the actual Visitor Center you need to go to the west entrance. Next to the visitor center you'll find a market, STOP IN HERE! Its the best visitor center market i've seen, small but mighty. It has an amazing selection of food and drinks that are actually great and not filled with chips and soda. We grabbed an Italian sandwich and a kombucha to split for lunch in the park after our hikes, and it was a great choice!
Once we entered the park we decided to hit the Barker Dam trail, a quick 1.1 mile trail that seemed promising. Although this hike is short and very easy, it's only worth it if you are able to see water in the dam. Unfortunately for us it was completely dried up, which it usually is, but I highly recommend looking at the All Trails map of this hike before you go and see what hikers have posted about the water level the previous days before you venture out here.
After Barker Dam we stopped at the Hidden Valley picnic area and had our lunch. After we ate, we walked around the Hidden Valley 1 mile loop and took some photos. This area is one of my favorite places in the national park, its the perfect mix of small and large rocks, along with classic Joshua Trees. You can also hike onto the much larger rocks and get some great views, this is a must stop for me when im visiting the park.
Once we finished up at Hidden Valley we headed back into the town of Joshua Tree and decided to explore. First we stopped at The Station, a revamped service station selling everything from camera film to chocolate bars. They have really unique merch and its all around one of the best shops to stop at and grab a souvenir if your visiting Joshua Tree.
After visiting The Station, we had to stop at The World Famous Crochet Museum. Now this place will be either terrifying or charming to you, truly depends on the person, but I found it charming. This tiny museum was once a old photo kiosk saved by Shari Elf and turned into a Crochet shrine. The museum is completely free, but please leave a donation!
After the museum it was getting late and we wanted to grab some dinner before heading to our hotel. A short walk from the museum lies the Joshua Tree Saloon. To be honest we had no idea what to expect from this place since it looks closed from the front, but if you follow along the side of the building you'll find the entrance located in the back.
Once we stepped into their outside patio we were pleasantly surprised! They had a huge outdoor area with a band setting up to perform, along with an outside bar. We decided to sit inside since it was a bit cold, but the inside was also really cool. If you like dive bars you'll love this place. I ordered the cheese burger and I can confidently say it was one of the best cheese burgers I've had, trust me, get the cheese burger.
Once we were done with dinner it was time to check into our hotel, AutoCamp Joshua Tree. Now, I am a HUGE fan of AutoCamp, and if you don't know what AutoCamp is it's basically a luxury camping experience, but instead of tents you stay in decked out Air Streamers.
They have everything you need to feel right at home along with a market on site for anything you may have forgotten. They also had a beautiful pool, a coffee bar which served alcoholic beverages at certain times of the day, and amazing customer service.
What I loved the most was that if I needed literally anything all you had to do was text the front desk and you're immediately talking to someone helping you with whatever you may need.
Some things I loved about our room:
• The bed is tempur-pedic
• The air streamer comes equipped with everything you would need, a cast iron skillet, microwave, utensils, various glasses, coffee, a french press, matches and more.
• It also comes with a mini fridge and inside I found some mini coffee creamers, which I was SO happy about since I forgot to bring creamer. Truly they remembered everything.
• And lastly, working air conditioning and heating! The heater came in clutch for our 20 degree night stay.
I filmed a room tour on my instagram, click here to check it out!
Now this is optional, BUT it was one of the highlights of our trip so I HIGHLY recommend it. We woke up at 5 am and left around 6am and set out to catch sunrise at Arch Rock. It's about a 30-35 minute drive from Auto Camp into Joshua Tree National Park. Im sure you're wondering why we decided to do this hike at the crack of dawn and the reason is simple, because this trail gets PACKED.
The hike to Arch rock is about a 10-15 minute walk from the parking lot, we arrived at the arch around 6:30 am and had the whole place to ourselves for almost an hour! We watched the sunrise and explored the area, this is truly my favorite place in the entire national park and it will now forever be a non negotiable stop for every visit going forward.
After we soaked in the area we drove about 10 minutes south to the Skull Rock parking turnout. Now this is another popular spot in the park and gets very packed during the middle of the day so plan to get here early in the AM. Luckily we had the place to ourselves for a couple minutes. Skull Rock is notorious for being hard to find in the park, but once you know where it is its hard to miss. I suggest looking at its location before you enter the park so you know where you're going. It helps to know that its the pullout right after Jumbo Rocks campground if you're coming from the west entrance. If you're coming from the south entrance and hit Jumbo Rocks campground, you've gone too far, turn around and drive about 5 more minutes north and it'll be the next turn out on your right hand side.
Once we finished up at Skull Rock it was time to head home, but first had to stop at Joshua Tree Coffee Company. This is my favorite spot to grab coffee in Joshua Tree, and right now they're doing a major remodel, still usually opened in the back during the construction but I would always check their instagram before heading over just incase.
And that is my 24 hr in Joshua Tree recap, I hope you liked it and found some great places to check out next time you're in the area!
Leave a comment down below on places in Joshua Tree I should visit next!
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