Today is National Public Lands Day – which is a relatively new celebration that has been taking place on the fourth Saturday of September since 1994. It’s not a national holiday but for folks who love and appreciate the outdoors, its definitely a day to celebrate.
First and foremost, admission into Joshua Tree National Park is free today – saving most people $30 to get into our namesake national park. Weekends are typically the busiest at the park, and with free admission today I don’t expect that to be any different.
If you are venturing into the park today and you are listening to this as you head into the west gate entrance through Joshua Tree – you’ll probably face less traffic and wait times if you just venture a little further east into Twentynine Palms and go through the entrance there. That entrance is also home to the Park Headquarters and Cultural and Visitor Center – so build in a little extra time to visit those as well as the dozens of unique locally-owned businesses in Twentynine Palms.
Public Lands are much more than just our National Parks. The U.S. Department of the Interior manages our national public lands – and those also include preserves, monuments, memorials, wildlife refuges, conservations and wilderness areas – the list of our protected public lands is extensive. And we’re lucky to be surrounded by so many of them here in the hi-dez. Down the hill you can step out of the terracotta tans and pale pinks of the hi-desert and into the deep greens and dark browns of the pine forests that make up the San Jacinto Wilderness.
The Sand to Snow National Monument contains the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve – a rich riparian habitat that can frequently feel cooler that the temps up the hill. Many of the trails that snake through the preserve are on an elevated boardwalk, making it more accessible for those who need a more sure-footed walk through the beautiful big morongo landscape.
And right here in the basin, we have thousands of acres of BLM land that is free and open to recreate on. From the ragged edges of Sunfair Drylake where you can freely camp just minutes town and the National Park, out to the OHV areas north of us. Off-roading was born in southern california, and Johnson Valley has a rich history of early air-cooled dune buggies like the meyers max testing their limits and throwing up rooster tails in the varied terrain.
You can also hit stoddard ohv area for more off-road blm options – it’s also a popular spot for rock crawling and rock hounding. And the Mojave National Preserve just to the north of us holds vast Joshua Tree forests and sandy dune vistas that can feel like a different world.
Using these public lands is a privilege we should all take advantage of, but recreation is really only half of the responsibility. Conservation and management also falls on us, so if you are out and about in the wilderness and see some trash or other signs of human activity, do your part and remove it. It feels good and its a small action that can have positive impacts for everyone.
For a list of all Southern California’s public lands, as well as some links to some local alternatives to our busier public lands – see this story on our website z1077fm.com
