Christmas in Joshua Tree
We spent nearly a year inside and my cabin fever was at an all time high. I needed to get out of the house and see new things, safely.
We needed:
Wide open spaces
Few people to come in contact with
temperate weather so we can be outside
Dog hiking friendly
So we decided on Joshua Tree. I had never been and I had always wanted to do a winter desert trip after visiting Sedona in January.
The view from atop a hill near our airbnb
The Airbnb
We booked a guest house in Twenty Nine Palms, a nearby town. It was a quiet little neighborhood with not a lot going on, but perfect for a pandemic Christmas. It was a tiny little studio with a kitchenette, a bathroom, a bed, and two chairs to sit and enjoy the expansive views. There was a 1 mile meandering trail that wound around the property.
Around Town
We kept mostly to ourselves in our little home away from home, but we did walk up and down the main strip in 29 palms.
Hiking Joshua Tree with dogs
I just want to say: Don’t do It. We did our research and saw that parts of Joshua tree are dog friendly, but what we didn’t realize is that literally only the driven roads are. Dogs are not allowed to step food on any of the rock formation sites, which heavily limits what you can do.
Why are dogs not allowed in most areas of Joshua Tree?
Well despite the obvious reason that it’s insanely hot there are literally cacti everywhere, the park ranger told us that dog urine actually will scare off the wildlife from water sources, and because water is so scares out there, that could mean that they die from dehydration because they are too afraid to approach their water. That’s absolutely awful.
We saw many people bring small dogs in backpacks, which I don’t think is sanctioned, but seeing as they weren’t actively touching the ground or leaving urine smell, it was less frowned upon. There were many people however who brought big dogs on the rock formations, and those are the people that were breaking the rules.
Note: All the photos you see were either taken in places dogs could go, OR I walked out by myself while Jeremy had the dogs leashed back off the trail where they were allowed.
I am in NO WAY sanctioning breaking the rules and now that i’ve been, I recommend leaving the dogs at home for Joshua Tree.
Cholla Cactus Garden: The dogs stayed with Jeremy back at the parking lot while I walked around and got this shot.
The campground
The campground was closed for the season, but dogs were still allowed so we walked out into the campgrounds and around some of the rocks there. This was probably the prettiest part we could actually explore together, but it’s very small.
Taken from the campground, which dogs were allowed on.
One of the Dog-friendly hiking trails
This part of Joshua tree had very few rock formations and was mostly a paved path that lead into an open area. It was pretty boring and got very hot. We hiked down the road until we saw a sign that provided some shade. We sat and rested and gave the pups water and then headed back.
The final thing we did was drive down the same loop in our car, which was really bumpy but fun. It was much more enjoyable out in the vast openness from the comfort of our air conditioned car!
