How to Camp in the Desert of Joshua Tree National Park with Your Toddler

As I reflect back on our #familytravelmishaps, I cannot help but laugh.

One of our most ridiculous trips was to Joshua Tree National Park, when I thought it would be a great idea to do a red-eye drive/camp on our way to San Diego (it’s not even REALLY on the way). That’s already pretty ambitious with a three-year-old, but to top it off she had just developed a cold and we were all likely suffering from heat exhaustion in the 90-degree open air.

And even still, most of the trip I kept hurrying us along from one weird-looking rock to another, feeling deep FOMO should we not see and do as much as we could.

Who can relate?

In retrospect, there were clearly a number of things I wish I had done much differently on that trip, including taking it slow and perhaps skipping it altogether. I can tell you why, below!

We respectfully acknowledge that the land in and around what is now known as Joshua Tree National Park are the occupied homelands of the Maara’yam (Serrano), Cahuilla, and Western Shoshone people.

Trip Purpose

Do a pandemic-era road trip to one of California’s most iconic National Parks

DESTINATION: Joshua Tree National Park

AGE OF THE KID: 3 years

SUGGESTED LENGTH OF STAY: 2+ days

TIME OF YEAR: We went in October (highs of 90+/lows of 70+; temps reduced by end of October, onward). Off-peak season is June-October, while peak season is March-April.

BASE COST

$15-$25/night to camp at the Joshua Tree National Park campgrounds
$30 park entrance, $55 for a Joshua Tree National Park annual pass, or free with an America the Beautiful pass ($80 annually)
Gas or Transportation

ADD-ONS: meals & incidentals

Before You Go

Plan on visiting during off-peak season (June to October) and in the non-summer months, if possible. Not only were temperatures more tolerable (though not on the weekend we visited…), you are also less likely to experience the crowds that converge during peak season (March-April). BONUS: If the stars align, visit during the new moon to get maximum visibility of the night sky’s constellations.
Reserve a campground online at recreation.gov, ASAP. Reservations fill up quickly. See more about camping below.
Gas UP before you get into the park. You won’t want to get stuck in any portion of the sprawling park without enough gas to get you out! We almost experienced this ourselves–see mishaps below. It seems the closest gas stations are near the Twentynine Palms entrance.
Map out your route. There are three park entrance points and additional visitor centers. For this trip we drove through the West Entrance and stopped by the Joshua Tree Visitor Center along the way. Angel has tried entering from the south and stopped at the Cottonwood Visitor Center. There are nice bathrooms there, maps, and rangers to check in about trail recommendations.

What We Packed

Standard camping essentials
Standard diaper bag essentials
Baby carrier or hiking backpack
A sunshade
Enough food, water, and ice to get us through our stay
Cooler

Recommended Activities

Highlights from our trip were camping, visiting Arch & Skull Rocks, catching a sunset, and hiking

Camp

Not just to have a place to stay, but to get the full Joshua Tree experience!

Sometimes we camp because it’s the cheapest thing, but that’s not the only thing Joshua Tree campgrounds have going for them; it is truly an experience to camp among the giant rocks of the park. Be sure to book a campsite first thing, though, as reservable sites get booked months in advance.

Visit Arch Rock

Arch Rock is an amazing natural wonder. The hike to see the arch from White Tank Campground was mostly flat, but getting to the arch itself was a bit steep and slippery. Wear shoes with good grip, and also keep an eye out for your toddler–we may or may not have been freaking out the whole time about her falling off the rock…we try not to hold her back too much, but definitely be aware!

Visit Skull Rock

It’s really as simple as that–a rock, shaped like a skull. It was teeming with people wanting a photo next to it, but the crowd moves quickly.

Sunset at Keys View

Catching the sunset from Keys View was a highlight of our trip. The drive to Keys View from Jumbo Rocks Campground is about 20 minutes (12.4 miles), so give yourself plenty of time before sunset to get there, park, and stake out a spot among the crowd. Then, enjoy the 180-degree view and the way the colors change the mountain desert views as the sun goes down. It is magic.

Hike

Joshua Tree is full of trails, so have your pick! I opted for the Barker Dam Nature Trail, a 1.3-mile loop near Hidden Valley Campground, as it seemed to be a good option for little feet. It was dusty, but most of the trail was flat. There is only slight elevation gain when you get close to the dam (which had no water, unfortunately). What also appealed to me was the presence of petroglyphs along the hike, plus all the Joshua Trees you could wish for 🙂 And I also met a little hare in the parking lot! Angel has hiked and recommends the Cholla Cactus Garden (0.25 mile, boardwalk hike) near the south entrance.

Where to Stay

Camp in the park if you can, otherwise there are motels and campgrounds outside of the park-proper

Joshua Tree National Park Campgrounds ($15-25/night)

Joshua Tree National Park has 500 campsites spread across eight campgrounds, both with reservable and first-come-first-serve campsites. Jumbo Rocks (which was awesome and lived up to its name!) was one of the only campgrounds with any reservable sites within a few weeks of our trip, so again, book early! Ryan Campground would’ve been the most ideal location near hiking and other sites we’d bookmarked (see below), but Jumbo Rocks is the closest campground to Skull Rock.

If you’re unsuccessful at reserving a site in advance, you can try one of the first-come-first-serve campgrounds at the park. You’ll be more likely to get one of these spots on a weekday (we had no problem first thing Tuesday morning). If I hadn’t already booked a campsite at Jumbo Rocks, we could’ve stayed at first-come-first-serve White Tank, an ideal location for visiting and photographing the Arch Rock at any time of the day or night.

In choosing a site, try to find one adjacent to some ginormous rocks (I looked on satellite view on Google Maps, lol) to try to provide you with some shade during the day. For reference, we stayed at Jumbo Rocks Site 40, which featured some shade-providing jumbo rocks and only one neighboring site.

Camp Outside of the Park (~$30+/night)

If you’re really set on camping but weren’t able to score a site in the park, check out NPS’s recommendations for campgrounds outside of the park.

Stay at a Motel (~$70+/night)

An additional option is to stay at a motel, but as with all accommodations outside of the park itself, this will hamper your sightseeing time. There are some lovely looking motels adjacent to the park that will run you anywhere from $70-$150/night. It was tempting to book one and have a guaranteed bed night’s sleep, but we valued the proximity offered by the park campgrounds.

If You Have Time

While not essential, these activities were fun additions to our trip

Hike Solo

This requires some help from your partner. We had originally planned to hike in the latter part of the day, after the sun (and temperature!) had gone down. Unfortunately, this happened to be the exact time that our kid fell asleep on the drive over from our campsite. So rather than try to maneuver her out of her carseat and into a carrier, my partner Lenny offered to stay with her in the car (how generous, right? lol) so that I could do a solo-hike. I was hesitant at first, but actually really enjoyed myself! It was a lovely and scenic way to decompress after a (self-imposed-)stressful itinerary, as well as get some time to myself. Plus, it helped to have space between me and my family! Hikes are such mood-boosters for me!

Eat at Sam's Indian Food & Pizza

Certainly not on the tippy top of the list, especially if you brought your own food, but if you find yourselves looking for something to eat in Twentynine Palms, look no further than Sam’s Indian Food & Pizza. Apparently Sam’s has been on the scene for more than 20 years! The Indian-style curry pizza and hot food almost justifies the 43-mile roundtrip out and back from camp!

Places You Can Skip

Giant Rock in Landers is neat, and it truly is giant, but the road to it was very sandy and gave our car a run for its money. It came up on a Google search of landmarks on the way from the Bay Area to Joshua Tree, but I can’t say it was worth the detour. We did see some people RVing there, as well as ATV tracks, so if that’s your thing, go for it!

Itinerary

We did all this in about 36 hours, but I would not suggest that. I would give this itinerary about 2+ days, if you want to fit everything in comfortably:

DAY 1

Leave Bay Area at midnight or around your kid’s bedtime
Stop by Giant Rock in Landers by 7:30 a.m. (skippable!)
Stop along the road for sunrise photos
Reach Joshua Tree by 10:30 a.m. (get gas before driving into the park)
Park at White Tank Campground, hike to Arch Rock
Set up camp, rest
See Skull Rock
Drive to and hike Baker Dam Trail
Drive to Keys View to arrive by sunset
Drive back to camp

DAY 2

Pack up camp
Do one more hike or other activity

Wishlist for our Next Visit

Visit Palm Springs to the west. Believe it or not, we seem to be one of the few in our generation of California residents that have not yet visited Palm Springs! It’s certainly on our list and it would make a lot of sense to combine a trip to Palm Springs with one to Joshua Tree, since they’re only an hour or so apart.

Mishaps

Turns out there aren't any gas stations in Joshua Tree National Park...

Joshua Tree is a huge stretch of park, so just as you would with most national parks, be sure you have a full tank of gas before you enter! Driving from site to site (sometimes more than 10 miles apart!) can easily burn through your fuel. At some point we realized that we might not have enough gas to do all of the things on our wishlist (most notably watching the sunset from Keys View, followed by a visit to the Cholla Cactus Garden in the morning). Rather than be logical and cut stops off our park itinerary, we made the 46-mile roundtrip trek to Twentynine Palms, where we got gas as well as a hot dinner while we were at it (Indian pizza, if you’d really like to know!). All set!

Turns out we wouldn’t need the gas, anyway! By morning we realized we were just too pooped and exhausted to do anything but pack up our tent and head to our next destination. We could have saved ourselves a lot of time, heartache and second-guessing, had we only gassed up on our way into the park (and/or decided that a sunrise hike wasn’t going to be in the cards).

Did I mention my kid was sick, it was hot hot hot, and we were all exhausted after a red-eye drive into the desert?

This was the camping trip where I cemented for myself (and let’s face it, my family!) that we would avoid one-night camping trips as much as possible. We had tried it once before and this trip just confirmed that packing all the gear, setting up camp, breaking down camp, etc. took more time and effort than is worth if you’re just staying one night somewhere.

Overall, Joshua Tree was a wondrous, otherworldly place to visit, and I would look forward to going back someday for a minimum of two nights 🙂

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Angelica

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Angelica (she/her) is of Cebuano(Pilipinx)-descent and was born and raised in Huchiun Ohlone territory (the East Bay Area--pay your Shuumi Land Tax!), where she also now resides with her partner and their toddler. She loves to spend her time sipping on boba and dirty chai lattes (sometimes together), and eating pescetarian goodies at BIPOC-owned cafes and restaurants.