Joshua Tree’s Desert View Conservation Area, also known as Section 6, is an underrated annex to the National Park that makes an easily accessible alternative for locals and tourists alike who’d prefer to avoid the traffic going into the crowds inside the Park.
It’s not uncommon for a local to admit they haven’t been inside Joshua Tree National Park for years, due largely to the increasing popularity of the park making its silence, serenity, and feel of escaping civilization more fleeting with each year. Though many locals likely have yet to discover, or even re-discover, the Desert View Conservation Area just to the left of the Park, a swathe of land containing all the same iconic Joshua Trees and towering boulder formations; yet with the peace, quiet, and little to no foot traffic its “big brother” has lost in it’s own popularity.
In its 605 acres of undeveloped land, the DVCA is home to a variety of wildlife, including bighorn sheep, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, as well as various fowl, rodents, reptiles, and its most fragile resident, the desert tortoise, who the DVCA gives extra emphasis to visitors to keep a lookout for—not to engage with, but to be aware of when you’re driving in and out, leaving a clear path should you spot one.
Conservation of the desert tortoises is a large reason why the DVCA is open for day use only; with no camping or fires permitted. But San Bernardino County Special Districts plan to continue making this an educational center in tandem with its daily recreational use. For visitors seeking facts on animals and vegetation, there’s the Joshua Tree Woodland Discovery Shelter, with its hexagon roof providing shade as you learn. Hikers have the option of taking the Big Horn Sheep Trail, a 2.5-mile path that loops around the whole perimeter of the area; or, for a simple walk around the rocks in closer proximity, there’s the 0.6-mile Tortoise Loop Trail, a brief but dynamic path that gives you more immediate impressions of this unique place.
To get to the DVCA, simply go up Park Blvd as if you’d be going into the National Park, instead make a sharp left turn at Onaga. The DVCA is a straight shot from there, past the dwindling residents, about a mile into the wide-open wilderness you’ll see the gate, then make a left a quarter mile up. Don’t be surprised if you have the whole place to yourself.
