Biking Through Joshua Tree National Park: A Desert Adventure

Navigating Joshua Tree’s Scenic Roads and Challenging Terrain by Bike

Daylight turned to dusk and then darkness while I pedaled my bike beside the busy road. Cars and trucks sped by me on the 65-mph route, every one of them making me cringe, as Highway 62’s narrow shoulder got narrower.  My heart raced as I gripped my handlebars fearfully.

I expected a different experience when I decided to bicycle through and around Joshua Tree National Park. On my rock climbing trips to SoCal’s desert gem, the park’s scenery and namesake Joshua trees expressed a vibe of wonder and contentment. Thankfully, the three-mile crux of our tour could not have been more different than the other 172 miles we rode.

My friend Bob Leung and I planned a loop tour in winter to avoid the desert’s fearsome summer heat. That strategy paid off as we climbed in cool temperatures from the town of Yucca Valley into the park’s western side.

Greeting us in the Mojave Desert were countless Joshua trees as far as the eye could see. These beautiful and unique specimens grow only in the southwestern states. Folklore says that Mormon settlers named them for the biblical figure of Joshua, thinking its branches resembled his outstretched arms as he led his people to the promised land.

Pinyon pines, junipers, and scrub oaks covered the landscape. So did a lifetime supply of giant boulders; we stopped to climb a few of them. Mount Minerva Hoyt caught our eye amid the Little San Bernardino Mountains. The 5,405-foot summit’s name honors the “apostle of the cacti” who campaigned tirelessly for the desert’s preservation in the 1930s. Minerva Hamilton Hoyt was a conservationist who promoted the establishment of Joshua Tree National Park, as well as Anza-Borrego and Death Valley National Parks.

This terrain had attracted me before but never like this. Traveling by bicycle allowed us to cover more ground than we could have on foot, and appreciate the setting better than we would in a speeding car.

“Amazing,” Bob remarked of our first day. “I liked the fact that it was cool and not the hot desert that it would be in the summer. The Joshua trees are beautiful and so unique. The landscape is stark but there’s a beauty to that starkness.”

A 40-mile ride took us to Twentynine Palms where we spent a night. We planned to cover 70 miles through the Hexie Mountains and Cottonwood Range on our next day.

After climbing 2,000 feet from town back to the high desert, we turned from Park Boulevard onto southbound Pinto Basin Road. In the park’s eastern side, we entered the Colorado Desert, distinguished by palo verde trees, creosote bushes, and ocotillo plants. Cholla Cactus Garden provided a short and rewarding loop hike through its namesake cacti.

Cottonwood Visitor Center offered our first water source since we started that morning. To our surprise, there we met park Superintendent David Smith, who endorsed our choice to bike instead of drive. “Great idea,” he said. “Time it right, and it can be an amazing experience.”

A long downhill coast took us out of the park, across Interstate 10 and into Mecca Hills Wilderness. Box Canyon delighted us with picturesque geologic formations. If this area was part of a national park, I suspect visitors would flock to see it. Instead, it qualifies as a secret gem. One could easily spend days exploring its rocky trails and terrain while enjoying free dispersed camping.

But hunger drove us to push for Mecca where we rewarded ourselves with a large Mexican dinner. The small farming town had no lodging so we slept beneath the stars in a bushy field. “I can now tell people I’ve been to the promised land,” Bob said.

Another 40 miles, windy but uneventful, brought us to Palm Springs. The end of our tour approached.

But to finish our loop, we had to ride from Palm Springs to Morongo Valley. We could use side roads for most of this but only Highway 62 offered passage for a three-mile segment. I was aware of this concern but vastly underestimated its risk.

Later I learned more about Highway 62’s peril. The Desert Sun newspaper called it a “death trap” and reported that it averages a fatality every month, which is three times the rate of an average California road. And we subjected ourselves to even more danger by biking a steep, windy and unlit section at night. Our bike lights and reflective clothing provided cold comfort.

When the narrow shoulder disappeared completely, I lifted my bike over the barrier to proceed on a dirt road which I spotted. But soon it ended and I had little choice but to return to the highway and hug the edge as tightly as I could as motorists shot by me. Bob liked the situation no better, declaring it “an experience in hell” and denouncing “the worst of all possible conditions.”

We reached Morongo Valley and the end of our tour safely but cycling that part of Highway 62 was a dangerous and foolish mistake. “It’s legal but I would not recommend it,” a CHP officer agreed. Biking an almost-complete loop and hitching or hiring a ride for those three remaining miles would have been a far better choice. Fortunately, we emerged uninjured and hopefully wiser.

Otherwise, the four-day tour was a desert dream and inspired future visits. I suspect most cyclists would best like riding mountain bikes on lightly-used dirt roads in the park’s western side which contains the most Joshua trees. This rider strongly encourages others to avoid the summer heat and carry plenty of water, which is mostly unavailable within the park.

“Other people would enjoy it,” Bob agreed. “You’re going to have some hits and misses. That’s part of adventure and exploring.”

Read other stories by Matt Johanson here.