Joshua Tree National Park
California
Dark sky
Dark skies
Bortle 4 · SQM ~20.39 (est.)
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
7.2 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🟡 🔴
Crowds
high
Open today
Open
Entrance
$30
Annual Summer Closures and Restrictions in Effect
The 49 Palms trail along with some campgrounds, facilities, and areas have adjusted availability during the summer. For the full list of changes, please visit our Summer Closures page.
Official NPS alert →Oasis of Mara Trail Partial Closure
Due to a heavy flooding event, the Oasis of Mara Trail is closed past the Oasis.
Inaccurate Third-Party Apps
Some third-party hiking apps are providing inaccurate trail and safety information to users. Please use the official NPS app for accurate information.
Official NPS alert →Two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in Joshua Tree National Park. A fascinating variety of plants and animals make their homes in a land sculpted by strong winds and occasional torrents of rain. Dark night skies, a rich cultural history, and surreal geologic features add to the wonder of this vast wilderness in southern California. Come explore for yourself!
Activities
Topics
Entrance fees
$30.00 — Entrance - Private Vehicle
$25.00 — Entrance - Motorcycle
$15.00 — Entrance - Per Person
Hours & seasons
Joshua Tree National Park is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Visitation increases as temperatures moderate in the fall, peaks during the spring wildflower season, and diminishes during the heat of summer. Some areas of the park are designated for day use only. Visitor centers keep separate hours; please see descriptions.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 7603675500
✉ jotr_info@nps.govConditions
Dark skies · DarkSky-certified (Bortle 4)
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jul, Aug, Sep
Typical crowds: high
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 94°F
☀️ 105°/80°
☁️ 105°/82°
☁️ 110°/86°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
65%
Feb
71%
Mar
100%
Apr
86%
May
60%
Jun
43%
Jul
33%
Aug
35%
Sep
40%
Oct
49%
Nov
73%
Dec
81%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Things to do
Stargazing at Joshua Tree
🟢 Hike Cholla Cactus Garden
🟢 Hike Skull Rock · 1.7 mi
Attend a Ranger Stroll · 0.4 mi
Birding at Joshua Tree
Hike Boy Scout Trail · 8 mi
🔴 Hike Fortynine Palms Oasis · 300 ft gain
Drive Park Boulevard · The time can vary greatly based on the exact route how much you would like to stop, look around, and hike.
Campgrounds
Belle Campground · 18 sites · first-come
Black Rock Campground ↗ · 99 sites · dump station
Cottonwood Campground ↗ · 62 sites · dump station
Hidden Valley Campground · 44 sites · first-come
Indian Cove Campground ↗ · 101 sites
Jumbo Rocks Campground ↗ · 124 sites
Ryan Campground ↗ · 32 sites
Sheep Pass Group Campground ↗ · 6 sites
White Tank Campground · 15 sites · first-come
Visitor centers
Black Rock Nature Center
Cottonwood Visitor Center
Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
Joshua Tree Visitor Center
Accessibility
4 accessible campground(s)
131 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
49 Palms Oasis · 26 accessible spaces
Barker Dam Parking Lot · 62 accessible spaces
Intersection Parking Lot · 57 accessible spaces
Joshua Tree Cultural Center Parking · 130 accessible spaces
Keys View Parking · 30 accessible spaces
Split Rock Parking Lot · 28 accessible spaces
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Joshua Tree National Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Dark sky
How dark the night sky is — darker (lower Bortle) fills the dial.
Bortle 4
★★★☆☆
SQM ~20.39
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Black Rock Nature Center
🎫 Cottonwood Visitor Center
🎫 Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center
🎫 Joshua Tree Visitor Center
🎫 Oasis Visitor Center
Places to see
Arch Rock (Arch Rock Trailhead)
audioArch Rock and Twin Tanks Trailhead
audio
Bajada Trailhead
audio
Barker Dam Trailhead
audio
Big Trees Trailhead
audioBighorn Sheep (Barker Dam Trailhead)
audio
Black Rock Backcountry Trailhead
audio
Boy Scout Trailhead
audio
Burnt Hill Trailhead
audio
California Riding and Hiking Trail at Geology Tour Road
audioCalifornia Riding and Hiking Trailhead
audio
Cap Rock
audioAudio & media
Learn more
View recipients of the National Park Service Freeman Tilden Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by NPS employees.
The National Park Service is pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2022 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2023 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.
Humor is a form of commentary that often reveals serious truths. Cartoonists combine artistic talents with razor-sharp wits to shine light on political and social issues. In most cases, those artists are external observers. In the National Park Service (NPS), employees in the 1960s to 1980s drew cartoons, published in official newsletters, that provide unique insights into NPS organizational culture, working conditions, and employees' concerns—many of which still exist today.
A lot of articles have been written about the history of the National Park Service (NPS) arrowhead emblem. Many recycle the same content and outdated information that has largely come from the NPS itself. Challenging the traditional story has revealed new sources of information—and two previously overlooked arrowhead designs—that rewrite the arrowhead origin story.
When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.
On November 11 - 13, 2022, Joshua Tree National Park was the site of an adaptive rock climbing clinic. Adaptive climbing makes rock climbing accessible through specialized techniques and equipment.
Visitors to Joshua Tree National Park expect clean desert air and beautiful views. But though the park is protected in many ways, air pollution ignores boundaries. Haze often obscures mountain vistas, and in hot weather, ozone concentrations sometimes exceed levels safe for people to breathe.
How Joshua Tree National Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Activity
Topic
State
Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
ParkingLot
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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