These hiking poles are sturdy, and great to help keep your balance on short or longer hikes
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One of the wonderful things about Joshua Tree National Park is that you don’t need to do strenuous hikes to see amazing parts of the park. There are many easy trails inside the park that will take you to some really beautiful places. We compiled a list of easy, yet awesome trails in Joshua Tree National Park that we think you should do when visiting. Hopefully, our list will help you maximize your next trip to the park. This list is not in any particular order.
1 mile | 118 feet | 24 min
Hidden Valley Trail is a nice beginner’s trail. Aside from some rock stairs, it is mostly flat and the scenery is wonderful. If you’re lucky, you might see some Big Horn Sheep. We have never seen them here, but they are known to frequent the area. If you are looking for some added fun, there are some boulders located in the back corner of the hike that you can climb up to get a beautiful panoramic view of the hidden valley. This area is popular for rock climbers so you might see them here.
1.3 miles | 59 feet | 26 min
Located about 2 miles from Hidden Valley, Barker Dam Natural Trail is another fairly flat and easy hike. If you do the full loop, you can also see some Indian petroglyphs. The vast majority of this trail will be spent in sandy washes. The highlight of this trail is the Barker Dam, especially when it fills up with water. Unfortunately, this is a very rare occurrence. Most of the time, it’s just a dried-up lake bed. However, it was still pretty fun to climb down and explore the area. The landscapes on the trail are beautiful and it is worth spending a half hour or so here.
1.8 miles | 59 feet | 35 min
Just a short distance from Barker Dam is the Wall Street Mill. In fact, you can link the 2 hikes together if you want! If you are just doing the Wall Street Mill hike, you will have the opportunity to visit 2 sets of ruins. One is the old Wall Street Mill. This is the most preserved stamp mill in the park. You can also stop by the Wonderland Ranch. In addition to the ruins, there are also 3 very old cars scattered along the trail as well. Unfortunately, all of the emblems have been removed, and we aren’t sure what they are, but they sure are fun to take pictures of!
2.4 miles | 275 feet | 58 min
Split Rock is our favorite among the easy trails in Joshua Tree. For a trail that never gets further than 0.8 of a mile from the main road, Split Rock trail feels like it takes you out into the wilderness. Along the way, you will be looking out over picturesque valleys and curving through towering boulders. This area is pretty around sunset, but be sure that you leave enough time to complete the hike. We cut it a bit close last time (we had headlights just in case). If you just want to see Split Rock, you don’t even need to hike. Because the giant cracked boulder is located right next to the parking lot. But trust us, you will be glad that you did this hike.
1.7 miles | 108 feet | 36 min
Another one of our favorite easy trails inside Joshua Tree National Park is this one! Technically, you can do each of these rock formations separately since the trail branches off ⅔ of the way. However, we recommended checking out both of them. These two rock formations are awesome. On top of that, there are nearly endless rock scrambling opportunities here if you want to add some fun to the hike. It is quite easy to get to the Arch Rock and Heart Rock, but we recommend wearing shoes with a lot of traction. Even though it says that you can do this trail in 36 minutes, you’ll want to leave some extra time for photos on this one!
0.2 miles | 9 feet | 5 min
This is the shortest hike on our list of easy trails in Joshua Tree, as well as the one with the least amount of elevation gain. It does however have its challenging aspects, namely the Cholla Cactus a.k.a the Jumping Cactus. As fuzzy as these cacti look, be careful! They are full of little spikey balls that will stick to you if you merely brush by them. The thorns also have barbs, making them hard to get out. Now that we have probably scared you away from this trail, we will look at the bright side. These cacti almost appear to glow at sunrise and sunset. They are amazing to photograph! Also, this trail should only take about 5 minutes to complete so it won’t take up a big part of your day.
0.6 miles | 26 feet | 40 min
Last but certainly not least, on the list is the Hall of Horrors! There are 2 ways to explore this area. The easy way is to stick to the nice flat trail that makes its way around 3 large rock outcroppings. But the fun part is scrambling around, finding the hidden hallways and cave systems that are hiding in the rocks. Please note that climbing, crawling and some tight spaces are involved in the second option. This area is also really popular with rock climbers and there is a good chance that you will see some along your hike.
What do you think of our list of easy trails in Joshua Tree? Are there any other trails that you think should have made the list? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring. Don’t forget to check out the related posts below for more inspiration on your upcoming adventures. While at it, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel! We’ll love you forever!
These are the gear that we personally use and find helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.
These hiking poles are sturdy, and great to help keep your balance on short or longer hikes
If you tend to have foot blisters on hikes, get this! We use this all the time.
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
It's always good to bring a GPS tracker with you. We use the Garmin inReach.
This is Vy's favorite hiking bag! It has tons of room for snacks and water!
Our favorite biodegradable, eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen!
This is our go-to camera for all of our adventures. It comes with us everywhere!
Compact GoPro pole that extends to 25", perfect to bring on your adventure.
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Hi! We are Dustin & Vy, the proud creators of Live That Adventure. We created this website because we wanted to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest. On here, you’ll find everything from hiking, canyoneering, kayaking, and snorkeling to adventure and travel tips, gear reviews, and bucket list items such as bungee jumping or wing walking. We’ll show you the ropes so you can do them too!
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