Lost Palms Oasis

Your destination: Lost Palms Oasis

Lost Palms Oasis 

Trailhead: Unnamed road off Pinto Basin Road, Joshua Tree National Park, CA 92277

Type: Outdoors
Category: Hike, Recreation, Fitness
Company: Hikers and Climbers
Cost: $15/vehicle (park permit)
Tip: Make sure to stop at the visitor center to get a park permit for your car (for $15 you get 7 days)

Review: 

Mastodon Peak

Why walk when you can hike, boulder, climb, scramble, run, and view? If you're ever in the area, seek out Lost Palms Oasis. Roughly 7.2 mile round trip, this hike is fantastically rewarding. Make sure to take the slight detour up Mastodon Peak for a 360 view for the miles of surrounding desert.

Tip: Follow the trail and keep going until you get to the Oasis - we found a few of the trail markers to be prematurely misleading, so the best rule of walk is to keep going until you spot the Oasis (it's truly hard to miss a bouquet of gigantic prehistoric palm trees) - which is where the trail literally and officially ends.

Make sure to wear sunscreen, bring water, and most absolutely - a camera of some kind. All cell reception is obsolete once you enter Joshua Tree park, so be careful when you climb and be mindful of the daylight.

En route to the Oasis

This is a great trail. Well-paved with satisfying variation, there's been enough use to mitigate any factor that might get you lost (we did a bit, but don't I always). Desert hiking is a great twist to my usual opt for vertical ascent, as you can go further in a shorter period of time (and get to check out the cacti, snake holes, and the sun setting behind the mountain line). 

Inside the Oasis