Joshua Tree National Park Statistics

Joshua Tree National Park recorded 1,996,584 recreation visits from January to September 2026, 7.0% fewer than the 2,147,462 recorded over the same months of 2025.²

• March 2026 was the busiest month so far, with 364,250 visits, down 11.6% from 411,993 in March 2025.²
• April 2026 drew 296,899 visits, down 13.1% from 341,516 in April 2025.²
• February (297,755 visits) and June (154,292) came closest to their 2025 totals, each less than 1% lower.²
• September 2026 brought 144,579 visits, down 2.9% from 148,905 in September 2025.²

Every month of 2026 so far has had fewer visits than the same month of 2025.² The 2026 figures are preliminary; the National Park Service finalizes them by the end of the first quarter of the following year.

Plan on one to three days in Joshua Tree National Park, depending on what you want to do.

Day trips:

• 46% of visitor groups spent less than a full day in the park, according to a 2004 National Park Service visitor survey¹³
• Common activities: short hikes, scenic drives and photography

Two- to three-day visits:

• 54% of visitor groups stayed more than one day; of those, 44% spent two days and 28% spent three¹³, enough time to explore both the Mojave and Colorado desert ecosystems
• Common activities: long hikes, rock climbing and stargazing

• Joshua Tree was the 12th most visited U.S. national park in 2025, with 2,932,644 recreation visits.³
• Dark skies: Joshua Tree is a designated International Dark Sky Park, recognized by DarkSky International¹⁴, a big draw for stargazers.

Joshua Tree National Park recorded 325,052 overnight stays in 2025, 18% fewer than the 394,357 in 2024 and 17% below the 389,673 of 2019.⁴ The National Park Service counts overnight stays (one person for one night), not individual campers, so one person camping for three nights counts three times.

In 2025, the stays broke down as:

• Tent camping: 149,792 overnight stays⁴
• RV camping: 93,213 overnight stays⁴
• Backcountry camping: 13,942 overnight stays⁴
• Miscellaneous camping: 68,105 overnight stays⁴

How do people camp in Joshua Tree National Park?

Joshua Tree National Park has about 500 campsites, and most of them can be reserved.¹⁵ In 2025, tent campers made up about 46% of the park's 325,052 overnight stays and RV campers about 29%.⁴

• Reservation campgrounds: Black Rock (99 sites), Cottonwood (62 sites) and Indian Cove (101 sites) cost $35 a night; Jumbo Rocks (124 sites) and Ryan (31 sites) cost $30.¹⁵ Only Black Rock and Cottonwood have water, flush toilets and a dump station.
• First-come, first-served: Hidden Valley (44 sites), Belle (18 sites) and White Tank (15 sites) cost $25 a night. They are full nearly every weekend from September to May.¹⁵
• Booking: Reservation sites can be booked on Recreation.gov up to six months ahead, or on the same day.¹⁵
• RVs: White Tank and Hidden Valley take RVs up to 25 feet in combined length. Belle takes up to 35 feet, though most of its sites fit 25 to 30 feet.¹⁶
• Backpacking: Overnight trips into the backcountry need a permit, and you can stay out up to 14 nights in a row.¹⁷
• No roadside sleeping: You may sleep in your vehicle only at a designated campsite, never at trailheads, roadsides or parking lots.¹⁶ If the campgrounds are full, the Park Service points campers to Bureau of Land Management land outside the park.¹⁵

• Location: Southern California, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet.
• Establishment: Designated a national monument in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it became a national park in 1994.¹⁸
• Size: Covers 795,156 gross acres, or about 3,218 square kilometers, including private and state inholdings.⁶
• Elevation: From 536 feet at the park's southeastern boundary to 5,814 feet at the summit of Quail Mountain.⁶
• Visitor milestones: Visits first passed 1 million a year in 1990, 2 million in 2015 and 3 million in 2021.⁶
• Services: There are no gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores or hotels in the park, and no water in its interior.¹⁹

Deaths in Joshua Tree National Park are rare for a park with about 3 million visits a year, but desert heat, a lack of water and limited phone signal all call for care. In summer, the extreme heat is a serious danger.¹⁹ A few precautions help keep you safe:

• Drinking water to avoid dehydration
• Wearing sun protection like hats, sunglasses and sunscreen
• Staying on trails to avoid getting lost
• Watching out for wildlife, especially snakes and other desert animals
• Preparing for desert temperatures, which vary greatly between day and night
• Hiking or climbing with a partner and wearing safety gear