Planning ahead is always a smart thing to do when you are heading into a National Park – especially one as visited and varied as Joshua Tree National Park. Checking on road conditions and making sure your favorite hike or point of interest is open can save you time and potential grief. Nearly every park, monument, and wilderness area maintained by the Department of the Interior has a website with alerts for changing road conditions or seasonal closures.
However, if you are in a wheelchair or other mobility-assisted device, planning ahead also means making sure visitor centers, natural features and hikes are accessible. Joshua Tree National Park’s website has a page dedicated to this, with a rundown of each visitor center’s accessibility features as well as any paths or areas that could be troublesome.
It also lists picnic areas and campsites with accessible van parking like Quail Springs, Hidden Valley and Jumbo Rocks, all with accessible spots for those who are mobility-assisted.
There are also some trails are also listed with a brief description of what terrain to expect. For instance, a shorter loop like Cap Rock is described as being hard-pack sand which may be ok with someone in a wheelchair. Other trails like the recently reopened and soon-to-bloom cholla gardens have a quarter mile of raised boardwalks that wind through the cuddly cactus.
The NPS app is a good place to start for planning your trip, it’s available for both iPhone and Android. It also contains some self-guided audio tours as well as audio-descriptive versions of national park literature. There are also audio-descriptive videos on Joshua Tree National Park’s YouTube channel, which may be helpful for those with vision impairments.
The National Parks belong to everyone, which also means access to them should be as equitable as possible. You can learn more about accessibility inside the park below, or ask any National Park Ranger at a visitor center.
Links:
Plan Your Visit to Joshua Tree National Park, Mobile Accessibility
Blind / Low Vision Accessibility at Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park on YouTube
