It’s been a minute since I last visited Joshua Tree for more than a few hours. Early March, a couple of friends and I headed out to Joshua Tree to celebrate our friend’s birthday. Since there were going to be more than 10 of us, we opted for an Airbnb–it was just to manage.

We headed out Friday night around 8:30 pm and arrived around 11:00 pm, it’s about a 2 hour drive east from the greater LA area and during that time, there may be some minor traffic, fyi!

We didn’t plan too much and just decided to go with the flow this weekend. There is quite a lot to do if you’re planning for only a weekend; 2-3 hikes is definitely do-able!

On Saturday, we woke up and did a big group breakfast and set out for a hike around 1:00 pm. We did 1 easy hike, Arch Rock, and ended with sunset at Keys View around 5:30 pm, which is highly recommended!

Later that evening, we stayed in and watched a movie on Netflix and had a big delicious group dinner, consisting of steak, galbi ribs, a cheeseboard, and fruits!

On Sunday morning, everybody left at their own pace and while everyone left for home, Brandon and I went back to Joshua Tree to do the Barker Dam hike. It’s a 1 mile loop, flat ground and super easy. I’ve done this hike previously but did not see any water at the dam so this time, I wanted to see it. While on the hike, we saw some climbers and watched them for a bit (kind of made us both miss climbing!)

Joshua Tree is a fairly small national park and even though there are quite a few hikes available, you can definitely accomplish a lot in a weekend trip so if you’re thinking about visiting, just do it!

Check out my photos from the trip, hope ya’ll enjoyed! 🙂