Across the Street from Skull Rock - Joshua Tree National Park — Abandoned Places, Gold Rush & Route 66 Travel Photography

Why did the exploratographer cross the road? To avoid the crowds at Skull Rock 🥾🥾🥾

Skull Rock is most likely one of the most iconic attractions in the park. Who can resist stopping when those two large, eerie eyes catch your eye as you slowly drive closer and closer. It’s definitely worth a stop to get a selfie in the skull’s large nostril. Of course, on a busy day, you might have to wait a long while before it’s your turn to stand in front of the boogeyman.

But if you have an hour or three to spare, if you enjoy hiking away from the crowds, if you like seeing places that most do not, check out the area across the street from Skull Rock. There are a couple very nice signed trails that you’ll almost have to yourself. And if you’re comfortable with your navigation skills, there’s lots to see off-trail while still remaining within a half-mile of the highway. Just don’t get yourself into the upside down.

Before hitting the road for my drive to the park, the weather reports had led me to believe that the day would be mostly cloudy. I would hate to be a weatherman. When I arrived, it was a picture-perfect Sunday morning. Wonderful temp, blue sky, crazy pretty clouds. I parked along the hwy near Skull Rock, packed my pack and headed into the desert, to see what I could find.

Raise your hand if you knew there is an active Volcano in Joshua Tree National Park!

Ok, maybe that’s an odd cloud behind that pile of rocks, but it looks like a volcano to me.

This visit to JT marked the first time in over ten years that I traveled without my trusty Nikon. I’ve been experimenting with my iPhone 13 pro, which has an amazing camera, and decided to use it exclusively on this excursion. In fact, I left the Nikon at home (I can almost hear Mitch gasp). So far, I’m happy with the results, but must admit that a couple times during my hike I missed the utility of my 16-300mm zoom lens.

There are some beautiful junipers and pinyon pines out here. By the size of the trunk on this juniper, it must be one of the wizened elders of the region. Imagine how many critters have lived under its branches over the decades.

Desert solitude at its best, but only a ten minute walk from Skull Rock. I’d be heading over to the huge pile of rocks on the distant right shortly. It’s almost impossible to tell from this distance and angle, but Face Rock was watching me.

One of the features with the iPhone camera that I had never really used much before, is the ability to choose the aspect ratio of the pictures it takes (1:1, 4:3, 16:9). The pictures above were all taken with the standard 4:3 ratio and are posted here with little, if any, post processing. For some reason, I thought to myself, let’s go square today. So the following images are all taken in a square, 1:1 aspect ratio. Click on any image to embiggen it bigger. Some of the photos have a hover caption.

There weren’t many wildflowers to be seen, but every once in a while a bit of bright color would catch my eye. The lack of rain, perhaps my timing. I didn’t venture down to the south end of the park near Cottonwood, there may have been a bit more color down there. But I saw a few pretty blooms.

Even though I’ve hiked this area before, I was seeing things I hadn’t seen before. Different seasons, different angles, different light. Different mindset, maybe.

And there’s something I never thought I’d see at JT. A stormtrooper rock climber! But I guess they like to scramble like the rest of us.

One of the greatest things about visiting Joshua Tree National Park is, that you can stop at so many places along the main roads (just use the pullouts and other safe areas) and hike for five or ten minutes into the wilds and see things most visitors will never experience. Just like I did on this short day hike.

Hope you enjoyed the trip! Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you thought about the photos. I’m really liking not carrying the big camera with me and may just stick with the iPhone for future adventures.

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