Fortynine Palms Oasis Hike in Joshua Tree National Park

Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California. Off of Canyon Road/Fortynine Palms Canyon Road via Hwy 62
Hike: Fortynine Palms Oasis hike, a hike to an oasis surrounded by palms (and back)
Length: 3 miles, round trip
Time: 2-3 hours
Level: Moderate, no shade on trail (shade at oasis)
Elevation change: 300 ft (300 ft climb each way)

We were looking for a short hike to do before we had to leave Joshua Tree National Park and the Fortynine Palms Oasis hike seemed to fit the bill. It was only a 10 minute drive from the Indian Cove campground (previous post) where we stayed the night before. Plus we really wanted to see what an oasis surrounded by palms looked like.

Having a destination that you were making your way to made the hike fun. You can see glimpses of the palms at various points on the hike and it motivated us to keep going. It’s probably not the most scenic hike ever (lots of grey rocks), but the anticipation of getting to the oasis made it exciting and therefore a worthwhile endeavor. Water in the middle of the desert is always interesting!

The hike itself is a three mile roundtrip hike with a 300 ft climb both ways, see the National Park Service map. It is rated as moderately strenuous. For us, the hardest part was dealing with the heat since there is no shade to and from the oasis. Glad we remembered to wear hats and bring lots of water. The palms at the oasis provided some shade to cool off before heading back along the same trail.

Although we didn’t encounter many people on the trail, there were a number of people hanging out at the oasis. We found a nice peaceful place to cool down under the shade of the palm trees before heading back. We enjoyed our hike, but one thing we would have done differently was to hike this earlier on in the day when it was cooler. It would have been much more comfortable (just so you know).

On our drive home we stopped at this roadside attraction off of Interstate 10 in Cabazon. There is an actual gift store inside Dinny the dinosaur, who is 150 feet long and 45 feet high.  Just thought this was so strange and yet so interesting at the same time.