Joshua Tree National Park officials say the human remains found Thursday by a hiker were not in the park, but in the nearby county-owned Desert Conservation Area—Section 6—in Joshua Tree. Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of human remains at about 11:11 a.m. on Thursday, January 16. The county coroner said a partial skeleton seen in photographs taken by deputies at the scene belonged to a human. That person’s remains were retrieved by investigators on Friday. Officials did not find any obvious signs of foul play or personal belongings nearby; investigators were uncertain how long ago the person had died or how long the remains had been at that location. The area is a more than 600-acre region of rocky terrain that is home to popular, but informal, trails. Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith said, ‘’Those paths are typically safe to travel, but the surrounding desert can be treacherous. If you go 20 or 30 feet off of a beaten path out there you can get yourself into trouble.”
