My most favorite thing we did during our long weekend in the desert was spend the day at Joshua Tree National Park. I've always heard wonderful things about the park, located about 1.5 hours from where we were staying in Palm Desert, but for some reason had never ventured out there on my previous trips. We woke up early {we picked Monday for our adventure instead of the weekend correctly assuming it would be less busy} and started the day with a hearty breakfast at Wilma & Freida's on El Paseo, then made our way north to the West Entrance Station to the park {pro tip - prepay the park fee before you go for easy entrance}. Driving into the park, you are immediately surrounded by vast deserts of Joshua Trees which themselves are surrounded by distant mountains and blue skies {but don't be fooled by those blue skies - it's much chillier and windier in the park than it is back in Palm Springs so layer up!}. We stopped several times along the road to take pictures {which I'm so glad we did early because the landscape changes a lot throughout the park} before heading on to our first real "hike" of the park, Hidden Valley Nature Trail. Hidden Valley is a popular park destination {as evidenced by the large, full parking lots at the trailhead} but once you get past the first few steps of the trail you are enveloped in a sort of Mars-like landscape that is both eerily quiet and spectacularly beautiful. It's hard to explain without being there, but the valley seems to go on forever and we meandered along the trail, stopping to take in the gorgeous views and trying our best not to slip and fall on the sand like rocks. Hidden Valley was my favorite part of the park and a must visit if you go {don't be thrown off by the word "hike" - the trail was filled with people of all ages and abilities}. I'll tell you about the rest of our adventure in the park tomorrow - for now enjoy these gorgeous pics! Can we go back please??
the entrance to hidden valley
xoxo,
stephanie marie
No comments:
Post a Comment