Joshua Tree NP/DLR trip: where do you stay? how long should I plan on?

[warrenz1963]

We're heading to California the second and third week of December 2022.

Our rough itinerary is:
Day 1: fly to LA area, drive to a national park site (Manzanar or Cesar Chavez)
Day 2: spend day at Manzanar or Chavez
Day 3: drive to Anaheim
Day 4-6: DLR
Day 7: drive to (which town?) and visit Joshua Tree National Park
Day 8: spend day at Joshua Tree
Day 9: drive to LA/fly home

The big questions are: is a day and a half enough time to see the highlights of Joshua Tree NP? Which town do you stay in?

 

[China Expat]

When you say Manzanar, are you talking the site of the Japanese relocation in the Sierras? What is Cesar Chavez, other than a person? You can stay in Joshua Tree the town.

 

[warrenz1963]

When you say Manzanar, are you talking the site of the Japanese relocation in the Sierras? What is Cesar Chavez, other than a person? You can stay in Joshua Tree the town.

They are both historic sites managed by the National Park Service.
Is Joshua Tree the town preferable to 29 Palms?

 

[China Expat]

They are both historic sites managed by the National Park Service.
Is Joshua Tree the town preferable to 29 Palms?

Joshua Tree and 29 Palms are basically on the same road. Just know Manzanar is a looong drive and is empty. You drive through the site and read placards about used to stand there. Maybe bundle with the Bristlecone Pine forest of ancient trees and the rocks around Lone Pine known as Alabama Hills. The Mt Whitney Fish Hatchery is near by and is lovely. The entire area is beautiful.

 

[warrenz1963]

Joshua Tree and 29 Palms are basically on the same road. Just know Manzanar is a looong drive and is empty. You drive through the site and read placards about used to stand there. Maybe bundle with the Bristlecone Pine forest of ancient trees and the rocks around Lone Pine known as Alabama Hills. The Mt Whitney Fish Hatchery is near by and is lovely. The entire area is beautiful.

Thank you for info!

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Is there something about the Manzanar or Caesar Chavez site that hold particular interest to you? Because they are fairly far away from LA, especially with going to DLR in between one of those and Joshua Tree. I’d recommend doing one of them then going to Joshua Tree, then DLR if you haven’t already booked rooms. Another option would be to do an NPS site on the coast closer to DLR to start. You could drive up to Ventura and visit the Channel Islands visitor center, or down to San Diego and visit Cabrillo.

 

[StarSeven7]

So we just visited Joshua Tree NP followed by Disneyland in March. You can stay in Palm Springs, which would be close to an hour away from the park. We chose to stay in Yucca Valley for 2 nights. We arrived late afternoon and we realized there was really nothing to do in the town and our hotel wasn't great so we didn't particularly want to hang out long there. We decided to cancel our second night there and head to Anaheim a night earlier. We arrived at Joshua Tree fairly early in the morning (maybe 8am?) and did several hikes, did the scenic overlook, ate a picnic lunch, did a couple more hikes, and we were satisfied with the amount we saw in the park and headed out around 3pm and drove straight to Anaheim. We were really happy with this decision and had no regrets and didn't feel rushed at all in the park.

 

[warrenz1963]

So we just visited Joshua Tree NP followed by Disneyland in March. You can stay in Palm Springs, which would be close to an hour away from the park. We chose to stay in Yucca Valley for 2 nights. We arrived late afternoon and we realized there was really nothing to do in the town and our hotel wasn't great so we didn't particularly want to hang out long there. We decided to cancel our second night there and head to Anaheim a night earlier. We arrived at Joshua Tree fairly early in the morning (maybe 8am?) and did several hikes, did the scenic overlook, ate a picnic lunch, did a couple more hikes, and we were satisfied with the amount we saw in the park and headed out around 3pm and drove straight to Anaheim. We were really happy with this decision and had no regrets and didn't feel rushed at all in the park.

Thank you for sharing your experience. We're currently debating whether one day will be enough for Joshua Tree, and this makes me much more comfortable in spending just one day.

 

[StarSeven7]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We're currently debating whether one day will be enough for Joshua Tree, and this makes me much more comfortable in spending just one day.

Yeah I think unless you wanted to do some really long hikes, one day is plenty! We did hikes in each area so I felt like we got a good overview of the vegetation in the different sections. Some sections have tons of Joshua trees and other sections have very few!

 

[wabbott]

Three years ago, we went through Lone Pine, just south of Manzanar. When you look o the west of the town, you will recognize the backdrop for countless western movies and tv shows - the Sierra Nevada. There is a jam-up movie museum there that is not to be missed.

https://www.lpmuseum.org/
Museum of Western Film History

 

[China Expat]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We're currently debating whether one day will be enough for Joshua Tree, and this makes me much more comfortable in spending just one day.

You only need one day to drive the entire park and hop out at each labeled stop for photos. Long hikes will add more time needed, but we had plenty of time to start out in the visitor center and do the park end to end.

 

[warrenz1963]

Three years ago, we went through Lone Pine, just south of Manzanar. When you look o the west of the town, you will recognize the backdrop for countless western movies and tv shows - the Sierra Nevada. There is a jam-up movie museum there that is not to be missed.

https://www.lpmuseum.org/
Museum of Western Film History

The museum sounds like fun!

 

[warrenz1963]

You only need one day to drive the entire park and hop out at each labeled stop for photos. Long hikes will add more time needed, but we had plenty of time to start out in the visitor center and do the park end to end.

This sounds perfect, one day at JT fits our initial plans well.

 

[oakleycat]

For Manzanar, check your date because I believe they are still closed some weekdays post-COVID. That's a long drive from LA (about four hours) to only be able to drive through the grounds. I haven't been to Cesar Chavez but it's a lot closer.

 

[warrenz1963]

For Manzanar, check your date because I believe they are still closed some weekdays post-COVID. That's a long drive from LA (about four hours) to only be able to drive through the grounds. I haven't been to Cesar Chavez but it's a lot closer.

That's good to know about Manzanar, thank you!