14 Best Easy Hikes In Joshua Tree National Park
Are you looking for easy and beautiful hikes in Joshua Tree? You’ve come to the right article.
Joshua Tree National Park spans 800,000 acres, and has tons of amazing trails and exhibits throughout. I spent 2 days exploring Joshua Tree, and was able to hike many of the park’s popular trails.
This article will cover the best easy and short hikes within the park, so you can plan an epic day trip. From old gold mines and ancient dams to scenic vistas, there’s something on this list for everyone.
Here are the 14 best easy, beginner-friendly hikes in Joshua Tree National Park.
Quick Guide To Hiking In Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is only a 30 minute drive from Indio, and less than an hour’s drive from Palm Springs.
There’s no cell service once you enter the park, but there’s prominent signs for all of the attractions and trailheads. It’s very easy to get around the park without maps, and you can pick up a park map at either entrance station.
To enter the park, you must pay an entrance fee of $30/vehicle (or $15/person walk-ins), which is valid for 7 days. I used my America the Beautiful Pass to enter, which is also covered at this park.
Before arriving at the park, I highly recommend downloading AllTrails for the hikes.
Many of the trails in Joshua Tree are easy to veer off of, but AllTrails has step-by-step directions, and the offline maps.
You can activate the 7-day free trial of their Pro plan to download all of the trail maps offline that you plan to hike!
Cholla Cactus Garden
- Highlight: Small loop trail to wide expanse of teddy bear cholla cactus at the base of a mountain
- Length: 0.2- mile
- Duration: 15-30 minutes
- View on AllTrails
The Cholla Cactus Garden is one of the shortest hikes, and a definite must-see while in Joshua Tree.
It’s a 0.20 mile trail through a cactus garden, with hundreds of teddy bear cholla cactus that only takes around 30 minutes to see.
It’s almost impossible to miss while driving, as you’ll see hundreds of cholla cacti off the side of the road.
Heart Rock and Arch Rock
- Highlight: Mostly flat trail to a rock arch, heart-shaped rock, and other unique rock formations
- Length: 1.6 miles
- Duration: 45 min-1 hour
- View on AllTrails
The Arch Rock Nature Trail was the first hike I did in the park, and one of the most memorable.
It’s a mostly flat trail, over the open desert to dozens of large rock mounds. If you do the loop trail, you’ll get to see the famous arch rock and heart rock formations.
This trail is very easy to veer off of, so it’s best to use the Alltrails Map to find the different rock formations.
Additionally, this is a very popular trail around sunset, so I recommend going it early in the morning to enjoy it away from crowds.
Hidden Valley
- Highlight: Loop trail to a valley surrounded by colorful desert vegetation between rock boulders
- Length: 1.0 mile
- Duration: 30-45 min
- View on AllTrails
The Hidden Valley Nature Trail is a nice loop trail around a valley that’s surrounded by colorful desert plants, with informational plaques.
If you’re looking for a short trail with cool rock formations and desert plants, this is it.
To get here, the trailhead is directly across the street from the Hidden Valley Campgrounds.
I saw a few people rock climbing here, and it was a beautiful place to admire the desert scenery around sunset.
Wall Street Mill
- Highlight: Flat trail to a rusted car, abandoned pink brick building, and large rock mounds
- Length: 1.8 miles
- Duration: 30 min-1 hour
- View on AllTrails
The Wall Street Mill hike was my favorite hike in Joshua Tree. It’s a short flat hike to a rusted antique car, abandoned pink brick building, and large rock boulders.
I was the only person hiking this trail, and it has a beautiful panoramic view of the desert scenery.
The trailhead is located at the same parking lot as Barker Dam, which is down the road from the Hidden Valley Campgrounds. So, you can hike Hidden Valley Nature Trail, Barker Dam, and Wall Street Mill, all within 2-3 hours.
Skull Rock
- Highlight: Short trail to a skull-shaped rock and other giant boulders
- Length: 1.7 miles
- Duration: 30 min-1 hour
- View on AllTrails
Skull Rock Nature Trail is a nice and short loop trail through desert washes to the iconic Skull Rock formation.
If you don’t want to hike the trail, you can find parking along the street right next to Skull Rock as well.
Keep in mind this is one of the most popular attractions in Joshua Tree, so it’s often crowded. But, you can still explore the nearby Elephant Rock, and other interesting rock formations!
Discovery Trail
- Highlight: Easy hike through desert washes that loops around Skull Rock, Elephant Rock, and slot canyons
- Length: 0.7 miles
- Duration: 30-45 minutes
- View on AllTrails
Discovery Trail is a great alternative to the Skull Rock Nature Trail, which directly passes through a campsite, and is often more crowded.
It’s a short loop hike over the desert washes to Skull Rock and Elephant Rock, with slot canyons that you can walk through.
Split Rock Loop
- Highlight: Loop trail with interesting rock formations, cholla cacti, and Joshua trees
- Length: 2.4 mi
- Duration: 1-2 hours
- View on AllTrails
Split Rock Loop is an excellent loop trail surrounded by desert vegetation that leads to piles of unique rock formations.
It’s just up the street from Skull Rock, but it’s much less crowded, and offers even more rock formations to explore.
Ryan Mountain
- Highlight: Uphill hike with a gradual incline to a summit with sweeping mountain views
- Length: 2.9 miles
- Duration: 2-3 hours
- View on AllTrails
Ryan Mountain is an uphill hike to the summit of Ryan Mountain, which sits at an elevation of 5,465 ft!
The entire hike to the summit is challenging, but you can hike a portion of the trail to have an amazing view of the nearby mountains.
The trail has stairs that wind around the mountain on a gradual incline, and there’s several excellent viewpoints well before you reach the top.
Barker Dam
- Highlight: Rocky trail to an ancient dam, petroglyphs and large rock mounds
- Length: 1.3 mile
- Duration: 30 min-1 hour
- View on AllTrails
The Barker Dam is a popular trail to an ancient dam with petroglyphs, large rock mounds, and lots of desert vegetation.
The dam was initially constructed in 1900, and has been dried up since around 2022! The ancient dam is located at around midway into the hike, whereas the petroglyphs are at the end of the trail.
The Barker Dam and Wall Street Mill trailheads share the same parking lot, so you can easily hike both trails in around an hour.
Mastodon Peak
- Highlight: Loop trail to a summit, with an old gold mine, palm trees and beautiful desert vegetation
- Length: 2.4 miles
- Duration: 1-2 hours
- View on AllTrails
The Mastodon Peak is a beautiful loop trail to a mountain peak, with a sweeping view of the desert valley.
The trail has palm trees, is surrounded by lush desert vegetation, and passes by the historic Mastodon mine.
This trail is very close to the Cottonwood Visitor Center, so it’s ideal if you’re entering/exiting the southern entrance of the park.
Hall of Horrors
- Highlight: Short flat trail to large rock mounds you can scramble onto and explore around
- Length: 0.6 miles
- Duration: 30-45 min
- View on AllTrails
Hall of Horrors is a short flat trail to a large jumble of boulders that you can climb onto, and explore around.
There’s not much to see on this trail, but it’s a nice place to take a picture on top of the rocks.
It only took me 30 minutes to hike this trail, and I saw many people scrambling up the boulders.
Cap Rock
- Highlight: Short trail with large rock boulders and Joshua trees
- Length: 0.5 miles
- Duration: 15-30 min
- View on AllTrails
Cap Rock is a short hike to a pile of large rock boulders, surrounded by Joshua Trees.
This is one of the less crowded hikes, and it’s an amazing place to watch the sunrise or sunset.
Keys View
- Highlight: Short walk to an incredible lookout of the mountains, Coachella Valley and Salton Sea
- Length: 0.1 miles
- Duration: 10 minutes
- View on AllTrails
If you’re looking for a scenic viewpoint that doesn’t require much of a hike, Keys View is the place to go.
This is a scenic overlook of the mountains, Coachella Valley and Salton Sea, at an elevation of 5,185 feet above sea level!
It’s just a short 5 minute walk on a paved sidewalk to the overlook, which has benches you can sit on to admire the views.
Desert Queen Mine and Eagle Cliff Boulder House
- Highlight: Flat open desert trail to a historic mine and ruins of a boulder house
- Length: 3.9 miles
- Duration: 1-2 hours
- View on AllTrails
The Desert Queen Mine Trail is an interesting trail off the beaten path to a historic mine and abandoned boulder house.
There’s interesting rock formations, pine trees, and beautiful desert scenery all throughout this trail.
Just make sure to download the offline maps on Alltrails, as this trail is long, over the open desert, and easy to veer off of.
Map Of Easy Hikes In Joshua Tree National Park
Summary
Joshua Tree National Park is an amazing national park to hike, camp, or go stargazing.
With there being no cell service within the park, it’s the perfect place to unwind far out in nature.
I was blown away by all of the interesting rock formations, colorful desert vegetation, and scenic overlooks within the park!
If you want more ideas for what to do in and near the park, make sure to check out our one day Joshua tree itinerary.
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