Cottonwood Spring Trail – An Oasis in the Desert

Have you ever wanted to visit an oasis in the desert? Joshua Tree National Park has several. One of the easiest to get to is at Cottonwood Spring, located near the southeastern entrance to the park. The trail is one mile east of the Cottonwood Spring Visitor Center.

Cottonwood Spring Oasis

This was our seventh and final hike of the day and the first hike to offer us shade from the relentless sun. You have several different hiking options, all starting at this location. The first is the simple .1 mile walk to the spring, which is  easily seen from the parking lot. The second option is to hike Mastodon Peak. This trail is rated Moderate. It is a 3 mile loop with an elevation change of 375 feet. You will pass an old gold mine, if that interests you. The third option is to hike to Lost Palms Oasis, which is a 7.5 mile out and back hike. This hike is rated Challenging and the park’s website strongly warns against attempting this hike in the heat. As it was 103 degrees on our visit and we only had one day, this hike was not an option for us. However, if we would have had more time, we would have loved to do a very early morning hike to this location. The trail ends at a canyon that you climb down to reach a remote fan palm oasis. There is a 500 foot elevation change down to the canyon floor.

Cottonwood Spring Oasis

We chose to leisurely explore the oasis and then we ventured about 1/2 mile onto the Lost Palms Oasis Trail to see what the landscape looked like a little further on.

Cottonwood Spring Oasis

Although the Lost Palms Oasis is  considerably larger than the Cottonwood Spring Oasis, we were still very impressed. To have an area of such lush vegetation amidst the desolate and stark landscape surrounding it was truly a stunning sight to behold.

Lost Palm Oasis Trail

The oasis you see in this picture is Cottonwood Spring. We hiked on the Lost Palm Oasis Trail until we could no longer see the oasis. Then due to the heat, the fact that it was 6:30 pm, and we had a 3 1/2 hour drive back to the hotel we decided to call it a day. Our adventures took us longer than we anticipated and by the time we got to the Cottonwood Spring Visitor Center it had closed. Their hours were from 8:30-4. This is one of the few areas in the park where drinking water is available, as well as a real bathroom.

We were absolutely thrilled with our visit to Joshua Tree National Park. It sports some of the most unusual and dramatic landscapes that we have ever seen. We were happy with every location we chose to visit and only wished that we would have had at least one more day to do more exploring. It would have been an amazing experience to have stayed in or near the park and be able to star gaze at night. Some things to remember if you visit the park: wear closed toe shoes (you don’t want to have cactus spines find your feet), wear and bring lots of sunscreen, bring more water than you think you will need, don’t attempt the longer hikes in extreme heat, bring snacks – there are none available in the park (we were here from 9 am – 6:30 pm), and if you climb rocks do not stick your hand into an area that you can not see.

Our next day’s adventures include a visit to Children’s Beach in La Jolla. As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

If you’d like to check out some other hikes located in Joshua Tree National Park click on the links below.

Hiking the Cholla Cactus Garden Loop

Hiking the Arch Rock Nature Trail

Hiking Skull Rock Nature Trail

Hidden Valley Picnic Area Trail

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Cottonwood Spring Oasis