Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → South Central Desert → Joshua Tree → Skull Rock

Location: Eastern Park Blvd area, Joshua Tree

Time Required: 5 minutes (to hop out of your car and see the rock from the road) – 45 minutes (for the loop trail including the Jumbo Rocks area)

Distance: 1.7 miles (for the loop trail)

Elevation Gain/Loss: 150 feet (for the loop trail)

Red Tape/Notes: Entrance fee is $25 per vehicle and the park is open 24 hours. For more information on the park, visit the Joshua Tree NPS website. For additional information on the trail, I like the post done by ProTrails. For beta on climbing sites and routes, try The Crag and Mountain Project.

What’s Nearby?: Hidden Valley, Desert Queen Mine, Eagle Cliff Miner’s Cabin, Willow Hole

You can visit Skull Rock by pulling off the road at the parking area and walking a few steps off the road, but that’s really not all that entertaining. It’s much more enjoyable if you approach it from the back, by hiking through (and over) the maze of rocks and washes in the area. You can start the loop from Park Blvd or from the Jumbo Rocks campground, but Jumbo Rocks is probably my preference because it’s nice area to hang out in either before or after the hike. If you read the information on the ProTrails linked above (as opposed to just using the trail map), you’ll get quite the geology lesson the rock in this area. The short version is that rock in this area was molten, deep below the surface, and slowly oozed upwards until it cooled, after which erosion eventually exposed it. The large rock clusters help maintain a micro-climate that creates pockets of biodiversity, so there’s often lots more flora and fauna to be seen in this area than one would expect. The Jumbo Rocks campground has a few climbing areas, and there’s also climbing at the nearby Live Oak picnic area and across the street around Split Rock.

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → South Central Desert → Joshua Tree → Skull Rock