Jenny Puranen Photography services Los Angeles, California, Malibu, California, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and The South Bay area

Hey Ya'll!!!!!!!! I am a Southern California Lifestyle Family Photographer living in The South Bay right outside Los Angeles, California. When I am not photographing families, highschool seniors, newborns and rocking out Maternity Shoots, I am living the good life traveling with my family. We moved from Satellite Beach Florida 2 years ago and have been on the move ever since. We love to camp! Our main driving factor for moving to our new California home in Torrance, CA was just how many beautiful places to camp, hike, visit and sightsee in the west! Especially California! I have a very extensive list of places I want to explore here and started with number 1 on my bucket list..... Joshua Tree National Park, 1 hour from Palm Springs in Joshua Tree, California. We came for the weekend and stayed over a week! I am going to tell you all of my favorite spots and help you navigate your own Trip to Joshua Tree!

We traveled over during the COVID pandemic of 2020-2021 so all campgrounds were closed inside of Joshua Tree National Park. I can't wait to come back and stay at Jumbo Rocks Campground when it reopens. Our trip fell during the second week in January 2021. I know they say the most popular time to come is Spring but I highly recommend this time of year. It was cool but not cold and the crowds were very minimal which I love. Bonus if you come on certain holidays you get free admission to the park. We just happened to be here on the Martin Luther King Holiday and got free admission that day! Since the crowds were not bad we left around 8am and sailed right in even on a Holiday weekend.

Since the campgrounds within the park are closed, we camped at The KOA Palm Springs / Joshua Tree located in Desert Hot Springs, California roughly 45min-1 hour from the West entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. READ THE KOA BLOG HERE WITH EXCELLENT TIPS ON THE AREA This turned out to be one of my favorite campgrounds ever! Here is a TIP: Book a premium site and you actually get 2 side by side sites which is amazing! Having such a huge site for the kids to play was sooooooooooo wonderful. Keeping true to its name the pool has water from the hot springs, which I haven't experienced other than in Costa Rica. The water felt like a hot tub which was so relaxing on a cool January evening. We had the pool all to ourselves almost everytime! The campground also offered put put golf, a playground, basketball courts (for rollerskating for us lol), pickle ball and lots of wide roads to ride bikes. Here are some photos from our trip to this campground, definitely keep this an option for your trip.

After you are settled in, it is time to get out exploring! Head straight for Joshua Tree National Park. There are 3 entrances into the park but if you are coming from Palm Springs or LA you will most likely arrive via The West entrance. This is the most popular entrance and for photo purposes I suggest using this one!

The entrance is a prime photo spot. Make sure to pull over and get a photo with it! Before heading to the park.... (buy your pass online first!!!!) , BUY YOUR PARK PASS HERE Once you get into the park, you feel like you have entered another world. This stretch that runs between the entrance and Your first stop "Hidden Valley" is prime time to get photos of the Joshua Tree's. Take advantage of pullover spots marked with signs saying exhibit. The tree's are most dense and healthier in this stretch of road

Next stop was Hidden Valley. This a great stop to stretch your legs and the only time I saw restrooms FYI. There is a nice 1 mile hike that goes in a big loop and is easy for kids and adults alike. This hike gives you a view of all the many different types of vegetation and wildlife that you find in the Mojave Desert. Keep your eyes open to rock climbers scaling up the sides of the large rock formations. We must of seen a dozen

After the hike the kids were tired from climbing boulders so we figured we would drive as far as we were planning on going that day then make our way back. We drove to the Cholla Cactus Garden. This located just after the two deserts combine. So it is cool don't get me wrong but this was not quite as exciting as I thought. However the drive was not terribly long so it is worth going. I just did not feel the need to keep going after this point.

Here are a few good points to know:

This a great time to eat your packed lunch. There is no food available in the park (or gas either)!!!! So come in with a full tank, lots of food and plenty of water

Do not sit anywhere near a Cholla Cactus or bump into it or even brush against it! Those quills hurt and they do not come out easily

We made our way back out of the park stopping at Jumbo Rocks and Skull Rock to let the kids climb. You can not pass up a chance to see skull rock.  You guessed it, It is a rock formation that looks exactly like a skull. Hashtag it on Instagram its so fun to see all the cool ways people have photographed this rock!

 Overall it was an exciting fun day and I feel like we only saw a tiny fraction of what the park has to offer. We went back another day at dusk and stayed into night stargazing. That was incredible and I will Blog all about that and how to prepare for that at a later date. Thanks for reading!

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