News & Press

Rangers share great ways to enjoy this beautiful desert park. Joshua Tree park ranger speaking to a group of visitors Ranger holds a comically large stack of toilet paper in front of an NPS restroom facility News Release Date: February 22, 2024 Contact: JOTR_Public_Affairs@nps.gov Twentynine Palms, CA - March and April are traditionally the busiest months of the year at Joshua Tree National Park. The park expects high visitation during spring 2024 based on recent trends. A typical spring day includes limited parking, full campgrounds, and lines to get into the park. While no day is exactly the same, the three best ways to prepare for any day visiting Joshua Tree are:  Plan mid-week trips – Joshua Tree is busiest on weekends and holidays, which can mean significant traffic congestion. Buy a digital pass – Buy your pass ahead of time by logging onto recreation.gov. This pass can provide a smoother, quicker entry into the park. Arrive before 10 am – Avoid entering the park between 10 am and 2 pm and avoid exiting the park around sunset.  Other tips to prepare for your park visit: Download the official National Park Service app before your visit. Search for National Park Service and select Joshua Tree once downloaded. Choose the tab that allows you to “Download for offline use”. This will give you access to information about Joshua Tree beforehand and allows use in the park where there is no internet or cell reception.  Visit responsibly and leave no trace. Consider a night visit and enjoy cooler temperatures and beautiful dark skies. Remember to respect the park’s wildflowers by taking only photos. Please walk on designated trails and never crush vegetation to protect future blooms for years to come. Be considerate of any park wildlife you encounter and provide them with adequate space. Please do not feed any park wildlife. The park may become drive-through only as the parking lots reach maximum capacity during times of extreme visitation. Visitors may be turned away from popular parking areas.      Be flexible with plans. The best hike for you may be one where parking is available.  Hike smart! Vault toilets are available inside the park, but food and water are not. Bring all the food and water you need for your visit.   Visitors can park along many, but not all, roadsides. Never drive over a curb or onto vegetation to make a new parking space. Be mindful of curbs painted red.     Make a reservation at recreation.gov for one of the 350 reservable campsites in the park. If there are no reservation sites available, there likely will not be first-come, first-served sites available when you arrive. Look to one of the private campgrounds adjacent to the park.    Many campgrounds intersect with hiking trails. Campers can choose to hike trails that are close to or even connect to their campground to avoid busy parking lots.   Find a new favorite spot to explore in the park. There is no one best campsite, trail, or sunset spot.      Thank you all for your continued stewardship and love of Joshua Tree National Park. We are so happy to meet you!      The data – Joshua Tree National Park’s off-season visitation was up 12.8% between June 2023 to October 2023. Final visitation numbers for 2023 are 3,282,575 visits, an overall 7% increase over 2022, and another record-breaking year.     www.nps.gov   About Joshua Tree National Park: Dark night skies, a rich cultural history, and surreal geologic features add to this vast wilderness in southern California. Learn more at nps.gov/jotr and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube .   The Milky Way above the silhouette of a Joshua tree

Joshua Tree National Park management is pleased to announce a new art exhibition by Joshua Tree-based artist Marcia Geiger. Metamorphic Modern is an exhibition of paintings that range from vehicles and abandoned buildings in the desert environment to the rich flora and fauna of the region. As urban sprawl envelops fragile desert habitats, and historic artifacts decay, Marcia’s work speaks as a reminder of humans’ lasting impact on the landscape and the transitory nature of human presence.  Marcia Geiger is a quintessential Joshua Tree artist. A Nebraska native and lifelong artist, she has lived in the Joshua Tree, CA area since 1989, when she began her artistic adventure in earnest. Primarily self-taught, Marcia took lessons in oil painting with Irene Scoggin-Bertrand in the early1990s. Scoggin-Bertrand was a well-known local artist and teacher in both the high and low desert art scenes, and member of the Southwest Artists group.  A remote private studio north of Joshua Tree provides Marcia with the open space, peace, and solitude she finds necessary to allow her creative inspirations to grow and flourish. Marcia is represented by the Asher Grey Gallery of Venice, Santa Monica and Joshua Tree, CA. Having served on the executive board of the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council from 2013 to 2022, she is a lifetime member and a participating artist in their annual Open Studio Artists Tour. She is a Legacy member of the Hi-Desert Artists of the Morongo Basin. Marcia sits on the board of Arts Connection, the San Bernardino County Arts Council. Over the years, her work has received awards at the Palm Springs Arts Council Exhibition, The Joshua Tree National Park Exhibition, and many more.  The exhibition will run from January 12 until March 29, 2024, at the Black Rock Art Gallery in the Black Rock Nature Center, located at 9800 Black Rock Canyon Rd, Yucca Valley, CA 92284. There will be an opening reception on Friday January 12, 2024, from 5pm to 7pm. The building is open 7 days a week, 8am-11am, 12pm- 4pm.