Joshua Tree Backcountry
Joshua Tree National Park · near Joshua Tree / Twentynine Palms · California Desert
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- point-to-point
- Distance
- 35 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,500 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day
- Best season
- October–April (summer is dangerously hot)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free backcountry permit required, via Recreation.gov or self-register at backcountry boards. The California Riding & Hiking Trail (35 mi) is the classic route. No open water anywhere — cache water at road crossings in advance or carry it all. Camping unlimited outside the Boy Scout Trail and Pine City zones.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 2 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Desert thru-hike · Joshua tree forests & granite · Extraordinary dark skies · Total water self-sufficiency
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Nights
- 2–3
- Resupply
- None — and no water at all. You must cache or carry every drop. This is the defining constraint.
- Intl tip
- Cache your water in advance at the trail's road crossings (Keys View Road, Geology Tour Road) in opaque, labeled containers with your permit dates — animals and sun both go after water caches. Camp must be at least a mile from any road and out of sight of trails. Nights get surprisingly cold in winter; the desert swings 40+ degrees between afternoon and dawn.
The guide
Backpacking Joshua Tree is a completely different discipline from the Sierra — the challenge here isn't altitude or mileage but…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Joshua Tree Backcountry — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.96, -116.13