Joshua Tree, April 1st-5th, 3-Days 2-Nights, Partially Off-Trail with Kids?

[Casey Bowden]

All,

We’re going to Joshua Tree for the first time in a few weeks and would like to do a 3-day, 2-night hike.

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[Casey Bowden]

— continued from above —

The kids are 11 and 8 and strong hikers so we’ve considered the California Riding and Hiking Trail but I wonder about other options that are loops and have more canyons and scrambling (I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the CRHT has zero scrambling if it accommodates horses).

Any input or itineraries would be appreciated. Off-trail is OK provided the navigation is straight-forward. Thanks in advance.

[W I S N E R !]

The CRHT is purely trail/sandy washes.  No scrambling required.  But you’re certainly in the vicinity of many rock formations that could be easily visited via an XC side trip for scrambling and/or camping spots.

One head’s up is to not underestimate the mileage.  Some of it pretty sandy and thus slightly more energy-sapping.

[BlackHatGuy]

What kind of mileage per day?

[Casey Bowden]

Craig, Thanks for the sand info. I can see that being an issue.

Doug, the kids are good for 10 miles/day pretty easily in the mountains. By the way, the trip you recently did is a route we are considering.

[Art …]

make sure your kids are aware this is rattle snake season, especially around rock piles.

[Miner]

If you look at your map near Blackrock Trailhead at the eastern end of the Cal Hiking and Riding Trail, there are a bunch of other trails that connect to it from the trailhead. The short Cliff trail is a bit of a scramble; more like very steep trail in a few places.

If you really want to scramble off trail, try the Quail Mountain (tallest peak in park) that is an unmarked, sort of a use trail/cross-country scramble from the Cal Hiking and Riding Trail a few miles west of Juniper Flats trailhead.

I consider the Cal Hiking and Riding trail to be pretty easy hiking overall. I normally do it in winter/early spring as an overnight hike camping somewhere near Juniper Flats in the middle; which is also a great place to cache some water as there is no on-trail water sources except at Blackrock campground at one end. Most of the trail’s elevation changes are gentle and spread out over a great distance with the exception being just west of the Qual Moutain unmarked junction where you drop down into a ravine/small valley for several hundred feet and then shortly climb right back out (but its switchbacked).

[Author]

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