Yucca Brevifolia more commonly know as a Joshua Tree is said to have gotten its name in the mid 1900's by a group of Mormon settlers crossing the Mohave Desert. They felt it resembled Joshua from a biblical story. I haven't read this story, so I really couldn't tell you why it resembled Joshua...
Joshua Tree National Park may not have been if not for Minerva Hoyt. Minerva was an activist who through her love of desert plants worked to protect and preserve California deserts. Her efforts helped to reward us with the 790,636 acres we now know as Joshua Tree National Park. And I wanted to go back.
So....we took Yub Nub back for a visit. We started our drive on Friday driving through Bakersfield up on 58 and stopped off in Tehachapi to visit Kohnen's Country Bakery, what has become our favorite Bakery and picked up a few pastries, Yum! We drove up to a rest stop in Boron about 40 min from Tehachapi and spent the night. We woke early on Saturday and drove the 2.5 hrs to Joshua Tree.
One of the main reasons we wanted to go back to Joshua Tree was to spend more time exploring the Rock Formations and be able to spend more time exploring. We followed the trail that lead us from Jumbo Rocks to
what In my opinion was the most awesome rock, Skull Rock. It is obvious of how it got its name.
We drove up to Keys view in which you can look down upon the Coachella Valley in which the San Andreas Fault can be seen, what an incredible view!
On our way out we took the road to Cottonwood and stopped by to see the Cholla Cactus Garden.
We ended up spending a couple of days at Joshua Tree, but probably needed a couple of more to really see everything. I was really jealous and got a case of FOMO when I saw the campgrounds at Jumbo Rocks. I recommend planning a few months in advance and spending the night in the park itself.