Joshua Tree National Park - Visitor Centers

Our February 2015 visit to southern California continued with several days at Joshua Tree National Park. One of our habits when visiting a new park is to stop at one or more visitor centers to get pointers from rangers or volunteers about unique places away from the crowds, to watch the orientation movie, to wander through the exhibit area and to browse in the bookstore. Because our visit to Joshua Tree occurred over a fee-waived holiday weekend, finding places away from the crowds was even more of a priority. Staff at both the Joshua Tree Visitor Center and the Oasis Visitor Center were calm, professional, friendly and helpful in spite of the large number of visitors.

Joshua Tree Visitor Center

The Joshua Tree Visitor Center is located on Park Boulevard just one block south of California Highway 62, Twentynine Palms Highway, in the Village of Joshua Tree. It is located five miles outside the West Entrance Station to the park. Open daily, the center includes an information desk, exhibits, small theater area, bookstore, cafe and restrooms. The theater is an alcove of the exhibit area that provides padded bench seats without backs. A 15 minute subset of the official park video "Joshua Tree - The Desert Forest" is shown on a continuous basis in the theater. 

Desert landscaping surrounds the visitor center

Entrance

Exhibit area and back row of theater

Cafe

Parking area

Oasis Visitor Center

Located at the Oasis of Mara on National Park Drive in Twentynine Palms, the Oasis Visitor Center is undergoing seismic remediation. During construction, a temporary double-wide trailer serves the public with an information desk and very small bookstore. Chemical toilets are located on the premises. This visitor center is also located outside the park and is 3.5 miles north of the park's North Entrance Station.

Entrance sign

Temporary visitor center

Desert landscaping

A temporary fence keeps visitors out of the construction area

A large mural adorns part of the exterior of the visitor center

An entrance fee of $15 admits all the passengers of a single vehicle for seven days. Other options include an annual Joshua Tree National Park Pass for $30, an Interagency Annual Pass for $80 and a lifetime Interagency Senior Pass for those age 62 and older for $10.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm.