Joshua Tree National Park Trailrunning (3 days)

Lost Palm Oasis - Day 1
Length: 11.6km
Duration: 2:26hr
Elevation gain/loss: 354m

Ryan Mountain - Day 2
Length: 4.6km
Duration: 0:57hr
Elevation gain/loss: 320m

Willow Hole Sandy - Day 2
Length: 11.2km
Duration: 1:42hr
Elevation gain/loss: 81m

Eureka Peak - Day 3Length: 15.7km
Duration: 3:18hr
Elevation gain/loss: 549m


On our 6-day Trailrunning / Camping Easter trip to Los Angeles we spend two nights in Joshua Tree National Park. As it was the Easter weekend, we made sure to book our camping spots in advance as they get filled fast. The first night we stayed at the Jumbo Rocks Campground, the second night at the Black Canyon Campground. Both campgrounds are quite primitive, but Black Canyon had at least flushing toilets. Regarding scenery, Jumbo Rocks is very beautiful, as it is in the centre of the park and surrounding by the typical Joshua boulders. When planning a trip to Joshua Tree NP, make sure you pack enough water and food with you. Although there is water available at the Visitor Centres at the North and South entrance, there is usually none available at the campgrounds. Regarding food, there are no stores in the park. However, the closest city with big stores is Yucca Valley just by the north entrance, so make sure to stock up there before entering the park.

DAY 1 - Lost Palm Oasis

On the first day, we arrived at the South entrance in the afternoon and decided to head out to the Lost Palm Oasis. It's a 11.6km in and out trail with very limited shadow to an oasis with Palm trees. At the visitor centre, we made sure to fill up our water bags, packed some snacks and put on a thick layer of sunscreen to start the run. Overall, the trail is on a fairly flat sandy ground, perfectly runable. Before entering the oasis, there is a small mountain to be climbed before descending into the Oasis. The oasis itself provides some shadow due to the Palm Trees, so it's a perfect spot to rest.

The way back was very beautiful, running went smoothly and people around us going for a hike, probably though we were crazy running in the desert ;) About 1.5km before reaching the trailhead again, Zeno fell and his finger and knee was bleeding. As we always have a small first aid kid with us, we disinfected everything, cleaned the wound, put a band-aid on and walked the rest of the trail back to the car. Once back at the visitor station, he cleaned the wounds again to make sure there is no sand left. The finger was a bit swollen, but overall nothing bad happened.

For the remainder of the day, we drove North through the park to our campsite at Jumbo Rocks Campground, set up our camp and prepared dinner. After enjoying the beautiful sunset, it was getting cold and were heading into our tent for a good sleep.

All ready and protected.

Perfect running terrain, except the lack of shadow.

Run Ann run ;)

Small 'mountain' to ascend before heading down into the oasis. 

Palm trees in the oasis.

Found some shadow, quite happy ;)

Running on sand.

Even more Palm trees in the oasis.

Me and some palm trees.

Zeno's finger just after the accident, ouch.

Beautiful Joshua trees on the way to the campground.

Tent is all set-up.

Our beautiful spot on Jumbo Rocks Campground.

Sun is setting over the campground, you can see the typical Joshua boulders in the background. 

Preparing dinner.

What a beautiful sky full of stars, just breathtaking.

Campfire just next to our spot.

DAY 2 - Ryan Mountain (1'663m) and Willow Hole Sandy


On the second day, we packed up our stuff after breakfast and headed to Ryan mountain for an early morning run. We wanted to make sure to not run during lunch time in the hottest sun, so we planned two runs in the morning, the first up Ryan mountain and the second to Willow Holy Sands. We were at the trailhead of Ryan mountain at 7:20 in the morning, the wind was still strong and cold in the morning. The hike itself is very short, only 4.6km return. We hiked up towards the summit, enjoyed the view over Joshua Tree NP on one side and Palm Springs / St. Jacinto on the other side before running back down to the car. We only met two other people on the trail, it was beautiful to have the mountain almost all by ourselves.

Preparing breakfast, the night was colder than expected. 

Sunrise over Joshua Tree NP.

Eating our oatmeal to fuel for the day.

The moon is still up and the sun starts to rise.

Ready for the first run of the day. Uphill to ascend Ryan mountain.

Zeno is all wrapped up.

Windy summit.

Empty summit and nice views.

On top of Ryan Mountain.

Once back at the car, we drove about 20min to the trailhead of Willow Holy Sands. This is a flat 11.2km return run in the desert. The first part of the trail was on packed sand, so it was nice to run on it. Once the trail heads into the Willow Hole, the sand gets more and more loose, making it more and more difficult to run on it. The Willow at the end of the trail was less spectacular than expected, but the trail overall was very nice. Be careful, as there isn't a lot of shadow and it gets super warm during the day. With the loose sand, the run was super exhausting. On the way back, we caught some better pace once we back on nicer terrain, but our legs were getting tired. We were happy once we were back at the car and could fuel up on snacks.

In the afternoon, we drove to our campsite at Black Rock Canyon campground, set up our tent and prepared dinner. It started to rain for a short time and it cooled down a lot during the night.

Beautiful Cactus along the trail.

Running on loose sand is hard.

Packed sand for optimal running conditions.

St. Jacinto in the back.

Another beautiful cactus.

At Black Rock Canyon campground, dinner is served.

Clouds are coming in to bring a short rain shower.

Sunset at our campground.

Zeno and a Joshua Tree.

DAY 3 - Eureka Peak (1'677m)

On the next day, we were heading to our last trailrun of this trip to Eureka Peak. This is a 15.7km return hike which starts directly at the Black Rock Canyon campground. The trail itself is on sandy flats first, then goes steadily up towards the peak at 1'677m. The top of Eureka peak was super windy, but the view was amazing. We could see St. Jacinto to the East, which we just hiked 4 days ago. You could see Palm Springs and overlook Joshua Tree National Park, definitely worth a hike. We descended down a bit to find a spot protected by the wind to get a snack break. The way down was unspectacular and we tried to run as much as we could. When we were back at the trailhead, we were drove back to Los Angeles to catch our flight back home the next day.

Summit of Eureka peak with snowy St. Jacinto in the background

Summit was again super windy.

Nice path for running.

We had to stop at In-n-Out on the way back to the airport ;)