Our second stop on the Thanksgiving road trip was to Joshua Tree National Park. Our two little ones have never been here and the older three never got to get their Junior Ranger badges last time they were here (just like Death Valley).
We started our day off at the Oasis Visitor's center to pick up our junior ranger books. Then we headed out to Arch Rock. This is an easy 1 mile out and back hike to an arch rock formation. We had fun climbing around and exploring all the little caves and crevices made by the huge boulders. There were a couple sketchy parts and maybe some lives in danger at times but that's what makes it fun right?
Next we took a drive to Skull Rock, which is a cool rock formation right off the road that looks like a..... you guessed it - skull! The parking for this one is always full but since there isn't a hike to get to it people don't stay long.
We made our way out to Keys View where you can see the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, and the San Andreas Fault. It was super windy on the ridge and the kids enjoyed trying to not get blown off the walking path.
We had lunch at Hall of Horrors and spent the next few hours there climbing all over the mountains of boulders. The kids were super adventurous and kept wanting to go higher than I was comfortable with letting them go. Our littlest is really scared of heights, he won't even climb a ladder, but he was really into climbing all the rocks and had a great time.
We left the park out of the West side so we could go to the actual visitor's center. Both of the ones on the North side of the park are actually outside of the park. We looked around the exhibits and finally got the coveted Junior Rangers badges!
This park rates at 4 out of 5 stars based on our standard criteria.
Rating Criteria: Fun, Scenic, Ease of Travel, Wildlife, Crowds
We made a Pit Stop in Fallbrook and did a 2 mile out and back hike along the river with a stop in the middle where the kids got to play in the freezing cold water.
