Skull Rock – Discovery Trail – Split Rock
Especially if you are staying in the Jumbo Rock campground (we haven’t seen any of the other campgrounds in Joshua Tree, but we loved this very much), this is a great sunset hike, a nice way to wrap up the day. We hiked the Lost Horse Loop in the morning (link) , went back to the campground to relax a bit and hiked these three loops right before sunset. Wise choice since being very popular and easy treks during the daytime they get quite crowded, especially with families and young kids. They are all very short (1.7 miles Skull Rock, 0.7 miles Discovery trail, 1.9 miles Split Rock) and they are all connected to each other starting right in front of the entrance of Jumbo Rocks campgroung and ending inside of it, so you don’t even need to take a car.
The first one is Skull Rock that takes the name from the famous rock in the shape of a skull ( I honestly didn’t really think it was that impressive, but judging from the number of people queuing in front of it to take a picture, I guess the world thinks otherwise ). The landscape for the three trails is actually quite the same all across, so if you are tired of the day and don’t feel like doing all the trails you can skip the last one, won’t miss anything in particular. We personally found relaxing hiking them all, took some very beautiful pictures of the Jumbo Rocks hit by the last daylight, talked a bit, enjoyed the peace. All throughout the trails there are nice explanations of animals and vegetation that are found in Joshua tree, fun facts to read on the way.
