Joshua Tree National Park - Homegrown Adventures

Why do you travel?

I never traveled for fun before I met my husband. Sure we moved a lot growing up but we stayed home. We were a happy and close family even though we didn’t travel. So no you don’t need to travel to see more, learn new things, grow, and so on. But once I experienced travel it became very important to my family and I.

We travel so that we can see things we haven’t seen before. Yes, you can watch things on TV but it isn’t the same. When we went to Jamaica on a missionary trip it becomes really real when all our senses were involved and not just sight. We prefer new places but we do love revisiting some places over and over again.

We travel to learn something new.

We travel so we can have new experiences. We love trying things for the first time. Not all the experiences are good but we learned something out of those bad situations : like getting bitten by a howler monkey, losing our child, or having someone we love almost drown in the ocean. Bad experiences happen even at home. You can’t prevent them.

We travel so that we can grow as individuals and as a family.

We travel so that we can expand our perspective. People who travel are pretty open minded. You see that even though we may think that others are different, in truth we have way more in common. I love meeting new people in person. There is something about facial expressions that is magical.

We travel so that we can strengthen our relationships. We have so many stories to share and experiences to remember.

We travel because we love good adventures and life is one beautiful adventure.

Cholla Cactus Garden

Cholla Cactus Garden is a must stop if your passing through Joshua National Park. The most cuddly cactus around known as the teddy bear cholla. This cactus is known for penetrating your skin from the slightest touch. While also being difficult to remove from skin because of the barbs on the spines. Peter had a bad experience here when he was around two years old. He happened to get close enough to the cactuses that his head was covered with spines. This time I walked away for a minute and my husband accidentally got it stuck on his sweater and in his skin. After getting all that over with his hand was numb. It is no wonder that Joshua National Park actually has an emergency kit at the entrance of this trail because I’m sure this isn’t the first or the last time this has occurred. This is a really awesome hike as long as you try to keep your distance from the cactus. The walk is short and easy.

Arch Rock Loop

Arch Rock Loop is the trail we went on to see an arch located at Joshua Tree National Park. Arches are generally pretty common inside of the national parks in the desert and this trail is way more sandy than most. Usually your walking and there isn’t really sand but this time there is which made it a bit different. The loop is 1.3 miles long and was fairly easy. We actually went off the trail into the White Tank Campground. When you see this campground just go up or down the hill right next to it instead of looking for the trail among the campsites. There are bathrooms at the campground so you can make a small detour to use them if necessary. The three common minerals in the rocks surrounding the trail are quartz, feldspar, and biotite and as a result these rocks are mostly tan.

Skull Rock

Skull Rock has a lot of granite. You walk in between walls of granite regularly and you can even climb up on it. This 1.7 mile hike simply has too much granite that surely you’d indulge in the availability of it. Skull Rock in particular is especially amazing. This rock is one of the taller ones and has experienced erosion like many rocks do. The erosion on this rock caused it to look very similar to the eye sockets on a skull. If you and your kids have been sitting in the car for way too long you’ll love skull rock because it is one of the best playgrounds nature has to offer.

Hidden Valley Trail

Hidden Valley Nature Trail is one of the most interesting nature trails we have ever been on. While it does take a bit to get to the area with a ton of plants it is worth it because you can easily become very invested in the sights it has to offer. There are plenty of spots where the trail splits creating a loop in an area which has plenty of plants to see. They have Joshua trees as well as juniper trees, oak trees, and a selection of cacti and so much more. We actually saw snow on some of this hike which was interesting because it was only in areas which seem to have a lot of shade.

This hike is very busy and popular.

Picnic at Quail Springs

Quail Springs Day Use Area is the perfect place to stop at before leaving and after entering through the west entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. We enjoyed a picnic here and it was surprisingly pleasant because all around there were people rock climbing. In this general area there are over a hundred spots that have been made professionally climbable and we saw plenty of people doing just that.

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Want to know how we are able to travel four months out of the year while homeschooling and earning money off my phone: Email us at : homeschoolhomegrown4@gmail.com