Customer Reviews

Best Easy Day Hikes Joshua Tree

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My wife and I visit Joshua Tree National Park every Thanksgiving Day. Hiking there seems more fun than cooking all day and we always have a wonderful time. Late fall skies there are cobalt blue and the hiking is always fabulous. Numerous trails to desert peaks, pretty rock formations, and of course whole forests of Joshua Trees await those who wish to explore this region and this book by Cunningham and Burke provides a good outline of where to begin.

Like other guides in the "Best Easy Day Hikes" series of Falcon Press, the emphasis here is on shorter hikes. If you are looking for long cross country rambles, other books might be more appropriate for your hiking tastes. Instead, readers here are treated to some of the "classics" in the park. Mastodon Peak (3 miles), Hidden Valley Nature Walk (1 mile) and the Barker Dam Loop (1.1 miles) are typical of the offerings in this guide. These trails are winners and most day hikers will enjoy them.

That said, not every hike listed in this book is truly "easy." The walk to Lost Palms Oasis is over 7 miles of moderately rough terrain and the hikes to Ryan Mountain and Inspiration Peak, while short, are very steep. In addition, some of the truly easy and scenic hikes in the park are not listed in this guide. The Oasis of Mara walk at the visitor center, a pleasant 1/2 to 1.5 mile loop is missing as is the scenic and wheelchair accessible Bajada Loop in the southern portion of the park. I'm sure these oversights will be corrected when the new edition of the authors' more comprehensive "Hiking California Desert Parks" volume comes out. In the meantime, this is a good resource for hiking in Joshua Tree. It is worth the price. Just remember that some "easy" walks are actually quite ambitious.