The Amazing Adventure to Joshua Tree National Park

The Plan

“Wake up, wake up,” I said to my dad at 6:00 in the morning. Today was the day that my dad and I would go to Joshua Tree National Park. Sadly, my mom could not come because she had some work she had to do at the resort. The thing about going to Joshua Tree from San Diego is that it is about a three-hour drive, so we kept that in mind. Our plan was to leave the resort at about 7:00 and reach at 10:00 but we were about an hour late, leaving at 8:00. Once we left the resort, we saw that there was a little bit of traffic because at this time, the kids would go to school there. But once we got through downtown San Diego, the roads were pretty clear, and we drove at a good speed. On our way there, I noticed that the landscape changed, from a flat area, to a hilly, up-and-down road.

Southern California

An hour in, we saw a falcon fly into a tree. From a distance, it looked like an American kestrel. Wow! That was a first. For the next thirty minutes, I just decided to look out the window to see what else I could see. I did not see anything, except for birds. Throughout my trip to southern California, I noticed that one of the most common birds is the raven. I have seen this bird in every location I went to. Once we were going a little more inland, the temperature outside was starting to become warmer. In San Diego, it was in the low sixties, but the temperature was increasing so much that it was about eighty degrees outside! As the temperature was getting warmer, my dad and I turned on the AC, cooling us down. Soon, time passed by, and there were only about fifty minutes left. The gas in our car was running a little bit low, so we just stopped at a gas station on the way. But what I saw shocked me. In the car, there was a screen which showed the weather outside. On that, it said that it was one hundred five degrees outside. It was boiling there. But luckily, we left the gas station in a couple of minutes, and we were going on a higher elevation.

After chilling and looking outside the car window for a little bit, there were only about fifteen minutes left till we reached Joshua Tree. Now, I was starting to get really excited, as I knew that the Mojave Desert was full of life, with rattlesnakes, lizards, jackrabbits, coyotes, roadrunners, and a lot more that I cannot name or it will take up the whole page.

Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park

Soon, we saw the entrance to the park. Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park! Once we entered, we were looking for the visitor centre. But on the road, we didn’t see any. Because this happened, we just decided to open the GPS and look for the closest one, which was a couple of miles up the road. But we saw something unexpected on the road. It was a dead jackrabbit. It looked like it had been killed last night. Even though it is sad, it shows how many animals live in the park. So, when we reached there, I asked a ranger about where I should go if I want to see a rattlesnake, and the ranger said that they are everywhere. So, I kept that in my head. Since we only had a couple of hours, my dad and I just decided to just explore the park by just going to random places.

First, we went to a place called Skull Rock. This is one of the areas of the park where there are many rock formations. The name Skull Rock comes from the shape of one of the rock formations, which looks like a human skull. Instead of taking pictures of the Skull Rock, I just took some photos of the native lizards crawling here, there, and everywhere.

Jackrabbit

After that, we escaped from the sunlight and into our car. With only about two hours left in the park, we decided just to drive around. But as we were driving along, from a distance, there was a jackrabbit. It was huge, the biggest rabbit I have ever seen, and if it stood on its hind legs, this black-tailed jackrabbit would be almost four feet tall! Unluckily, I was not able to take a photo of this animal.

Cap Rock

On our way driving, we saw a sign that said Cap Rock. This seemed interesting to me and my dad, so we decided to go there and walk. The trail there was open, like most trails in this national park, and there was a lot of sunlight. Good thing we brought tons of water, because we could have got dehydrated by the desert heat. On the trail, there were many cacti, most being super spiky. There were many lizards, too. Most of the lizards there were side-blotched lizards and western fence lizards, which are both common species in California.

After the Cap Rock trail, we returned to the car, escaping the boiling desert sun. At this time, we only had about one hour left to explore the park. At this time, it was about 1:15 in the afternoon. Since it was the afternoon, I was guessing that most animals would probably be hunkered down somewhere, like under a rock.

Snake

The good part about this trip is that before going to Joshua Tree National Park, I researched some of the animals that live there and which locations in the park you can find them. When researching, it was hard to find an exact location, because there was no specific one, especially to find a rattlesnake. Because of this, I just decided to go to the area where I was guessing that there were reptiles, like snakes. As we were driving, we came near one of the campgrounds, in the park, where we thought there was a snake on the road. We backed up, but it turns out that the “snake” was just a stick. So, we just went ahead.

Then, we reached a location, which I am not going to name, because some bad people might harm the animals there. We only had about fifteen minutes, so it was our last hope to see any cool animals. My goal was to see a rattlesnake, but the conditions made me think it would not happen.

My dad and I looked at every crevice and area we thought had a rattlesnake. Soon, we reached a boulder near the edge of a huge rock formation that towered hundreds of feet above us.

Southern Pacific rattlesnake

I told my dad to be careful and that the boulder could have had a rattlesnake under it. Then, suddenly, my dad yelled. There’s a rattlesnake here! For a second, I was shocked. No way! Then I went to see for myself, and sure enough, there was a pretty good-sized rattlesnake. I immediately started clicking some pictures. I could not believe that I saw this snake at that location in less than ten minutes of walking. From its looks, that snake looked like a Southern Pacific rattlesnake. After taking some pictures, it was time we had to go. We had to return to San Diego and start our three-hour drive, but wow! What an encounter!

On our way back, we stopped by the visitor centre and identified that it was a southern Pacific rattlesnake. But as we were exiting the national park, there was a dead coyote on the edge of the road. I did not expect this, as I have never seen a dead one before. It is sad, but once again, it shows the diversity of animals in this park. Then, up ahead perched on a Joshua tree, there was a greater roadrunner. If you don’t know what a roadrunner is, it is a type of bird that is a master at catching reptiles such as snakes and lizards.

Overall, Joshua Tree National Park is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems I have ever seen, and even being there for just a couple of hours, my dad saw so much, including a rattlesnake, which I have never ever seen before.

Note: We did not explore every location due to limited time. Places like the Cactus Garden were closed then, though we saw it from a distance. We also saw some more animals I did not include here, including a tarantula, ground squirrel, and several hawk species. Also, never go near a venomous snake, and never try to interact with it. Just take a picture, and enjoy seeing it from a safe distance.

By Param Pachchigar

Param Pachchigar visted the park on 11th April 2025.

The article was written on 22nd April 2025.

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Photo Credit – Copyright Free, Royalty Free images by Param Pachchigar and Pexels

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