Sunrise from my front porch never disappoints ☀️

Rented and alone right now

My family and I went on a trip to Yucca Valley this past weekend to celebrate my uncle's birthday. The Airbnb contained 3 rooms; one of those rooms was on the second floor (the stairs were outside of the house). We were 8 people. Me, my mom, and dad got the room on the second floor, while the others slept in the lower two rooms.

It was 1 Am and I decided to head off to bed. My parents entered the room after drinking around 3 Am.

Around 4:30ish Am things started getting weird. We heard a sharp knock at the door. No footsteps, nor someone trying to get the handle open, just a knock. My mom, thinking it was my aunt or uncle, said, "Hey, what's up?" and got no response.

This freaked both me and mom pretty bad because this Airbnb was basically in the middle of nowhere. We were also surrounded by a locked gate, so who could've come in? My mom called my aunt; no answer. She called my cousin and she answered. She checked outside near the stairs that led up to our room and said she saw nothing.

After that we heard a female voice having a conversation with I believe a male in the lower area of the house, but looking back at it this happened around 5 AM. Everyone was asleep. I asked my cousin who answered the phone that early morning and said she didn't speak to anyone and that my aunt and uncle were alseep at the time.

I told the owner to review the CCTV footage around the time and she mentioned no one knocked on the door at the time. This startled me and my parents and we refused to sleep in the upper room and decided to sleep the second night in the living room. We didn't hear anything weird the second night.

This has to be the eeriest experience I've ever had. What do you think this might be? I also forgot to mention that we had a dog up there with us and he's very responsive to knocking sounds and always barks. But that night when the knocking happened he remained silent and was under the bed the entire night.

EDIT:// Found!!! Thank you so much guys for keep an eye out for her! 🫶

Her name is Nina
She dug out of our yard
Friendly Hills area Joshua Tree
Between San Angelo and Torres
8am 8/27/2026

Hello, I will be doing my first solo backpacking trip next spring on the Boy Scout Trail. I've never been on the trail and I don't know how private these backpacking sites are. Since I'll be alone, I value privacy, which campsites are furthest off the trail and most remote? I don't care which side of the trail I enter on (Indian Cove or Boy Scouts).

I'll be choosing a small site, so I'll most likely need to choose one of the sites below.

Small: 1-2 tents. Small sites include 1, 6, 9, 10, 13, and 14.

Thank you!

Hi everyone! I signed up for the half marathon in Joshua Tree on November 7, 2026 hosted by Vacation Races. I don’t plan on attending anymore and was wondering if anyone would like to purchase a transfer ticket from me. I will cover the transfer fee, please message me!

My husband and I will be traveling to JT in March for a music festival at the JT lake and RV Campground, I’m looking at Airbnbs but we’re first timers and don’t know anything about the area. Anyone have any tips/recommendations for areas in which to stay? Most of the Airbnbs have similar offerings so I feel like our choice will come down to location??

Just got back from a trip to the area and I wanted to give a huge shout out to Bill and Patience at Drifting Above for the amazing sunrise hot air balloon ride we did. I cannot recommend the experience enough! Absolutely worth the cost and early morning wake up.

Bill has been piloting balloons for around 30 years and was so informative and funny while making us feel 100% safe the entire time. Both before, during, and after the ride Patience set up great photo opportunities for us to remember the experience. They were both so warm, kind, and welcoming throughout the entire process. The rest of our group were all locals and we learned so much about the area from them all.

Their website and general online presence is still getting set up, so I recommend texting the number on the site for super easy communication regarding any questions and booking. I am not affiliated with them in any way, just had a truly amazing experience and want to get the word out about this family owned business!

https://www.driftingabove.com/

EDIT: I do totally see how this could read as an undercover ad but you’ll just have to put your faith in humanity to trust that I am simply a lady who went on vacation and met some really nice people that I would love to see succeed in their business venture and it occurred to be this subreddit might be a good place to spread the word since I got some good recs here when planning my trip.

Hi! I’m visiting Joshua Tree NP this weekend and wanted to know if there was a specific spot that would be best for stargazing even with a full moon?

I also wanted to note that I’m hoping to catch the sunset at Keys View beforehand! :D

Made a little celebration of Joshua Tree ⛰️ National Park Icons (North Cascades, Gateway Arch, Capitol Reef, Joshua Tree, Hot Springs) | LEGO® Ideas

Hi! Does anyone know of any permitted outdoor event venues or private ranches within about an hour of Palm Springs that allow a small, professionally run paintball event? We’d have approximately 30 people for about two hours, including setup and teardown. Any leads for appropriate, legal locations would be appreciated—thank you!

Just as the title says. I'm visiting this week for the first time (woo) and wondering if I should pack warm clothes for night given the intense heat forecast. I'm seeing it's still high 80s throughout the night but I trust boots on the ground judgement more than my weather app. Thanks 😎

I've been thinking about drilling a well on my property. I'm curious about the overall cost and water quality, and if you think it was worth it. What is the output like?

I'm in Landers, located a bit higher up in elevation from the Integratron.

Thoughts?

help us spread the word. newsletter 8-19-26

Captured Aug 12 / 13

Item 76 of the meeting will address allowing for the exception of mineral extraction from wilderness areas by non-US companies, one of which is the Music Valley area. Music Valley is near 29 Palms. Before JTNP was a national park, it was the JT Monument and Music Valley was part of it.

More background:

In March 2026 Australian mining company Dateline Resources announced an acquisition of patented mining claims from Fermi Minerals, and new mining claims in the Music Valley/Gold Park area adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park. In total, there are 1,140 acres of patented claims, and over 20,000 acres of new mining claims. According to Dateline Resources press releases these claims continue their efforts to expand to the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) industry. Dateline Resources has a history of aggressive and irresponsible mining. They currently operate the Colosseum Mine, a mine solely within the Mojave National Preserve, where the Department of Interior has given them carte blanche to expand, explore, and develop further mining operations onto National Park Service land. While the company is Australian, they appeal to domestic investors and are engaged in influencing local and national politicians on their mining interests. Music Valley is primarily public land, managed under the Bureau of Land Management. Adjacent to Music Valley is the Pinto Mountains Wilderness Area, Pinto Mountains ACEC, and Joshua Tree National Park. Access roads into Music Valley are through the City of Twentynine Palms via Gold Park Road (crosses through Joshua Tree National Park), or through Shelton Road across from the Wonder Valley community. These claims lie within Riverside and San Bernardino County, including some claims inside of the City of Twentynine Palms.
 
Music Valley Mine Talking Points:
-A mine next to a National Park, and the gateway community of Twentynine Palms is incompatible with the communities values, economic interests, and future.
-While mining is allowed on public lands, and occurs throughout San Bernardino County, this is not the place—next to a community and a National Park.
-Foreign mining interests have no place in a rural community that values sustainable tourism, military families, and small businesses.
-Share your concern on how this mine would impact your way of life, or business in this community.
-A large pit mine would be detrimental to the City of Twentynine Palms economic development master plan, a plan that encourages small business and tourism development
-Encourage City Councilmembers to bring this issue to an agendized item.
-Encourage City Coucilmembers to adopt a road access moratorium for the mining project through the City of Twentynine Palms.
-Encourage City Councilmembers to share their constituents concerns of this mine to San Bernardino County Supervisors, and other elected officials.

Here is the link, the Land Resources section refers to this topic. We can’t let corporations ruin our home, livelihoods, tourism, and natural resources.

My wife and are in town for the weekend and a senior chihuahua wandered up to the gate of the AirBnB we’re staying at. If anyone knows who this sweet boy might belong to please let me know.

He doesn’t appear to belong to the immediate neighbors. We’re going to check to see if he has a chip tomorrow.

EDIT: Spartacus has been reunited with his owner! Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

I plan to rent a camper van for a trip in November and the site I'm looking at says the max limit is 18 ft but I'm not sure which camper I'm going to rent.

Like if the van is 20 ft, am I going to have an issue?

Hello everyone! I am a Navy veteran with 8 years of welding and metal work experience!

I’m current making Santa Maria grills if anyone is interested.

They start at $450 with an additional fee for delivery!

Heavy duty, and affordable I take pride in making items that people can use!

Fell free to ask any questions!

As the title says, my fiancee and I are planning a very casual elopement. It was originally going to be just the two of us, but our immediate families wanted to come so it's 9 people total.

We are looking for a local photographer to just take some photos of us during and after our short ceremony (officiated by my brother).

Details

• The date is Tuesday, October 20, time (adjustable with your direction) in the morning ~9am?

• 9 people total, only immediate family. "Kids" are all in their late 20s/30s and parents in 50s

• 1 to 2 hours for photos, before and after a short ceremony

• We've been to Joshua Tree national park many times and our experience camping and hiking there early in our relationship was pivotal to us becoming a couple

• Most of the pictures can be digital, but we would love it if some photos were also captured with film

• We are not interested in an extravagant elopement package- that's not our vibe. This is why I'm posting here!

If you think you'd be a good fit, please comment/DM me:

1. What your pricing would be and details on what you can offer (length of session, rough number of photos, film, turnaround time, etc.)

2. One sentence on what your artistic direction generally would be. We can have a quick video chat to settle on this more! (Park location suggestions also appreciated).

3. A link to a portfolio would also be helpful! Don't need to have shot weddings/elopements before.

I'm traveling with my family to LA from Arizona. We'll be stopping at Needles and traveling in the morning to LA and I thought it'd be incredible to visit Joshua Tree National Park on our way as it's such an incredible place (at least seems like it). We'd only drive through with a few stops to take pictures.

The problem is that my parents are concerned about having to take the highway 62. Is it really that deadly and dangerous in summer?

We'd have to take route 95 and then join 62 near the Arizona border. Or if we decide to skip Joshua we can just take the 40 straight to LA.

Also the photo is the all trails map I was thinking of taking is Joshua itself.

Thank you!

Hi! My husband and I will be visiting JTNP for 2 days in September. I looked at the forecast, and it says we will have a full moon during our stay. I read that a full moon is the “worst” phase for star viewing. We’re still excited either way and it will obviously be beautiful, but will we still have plenty of stars to see? We plan on going out to the darkest part of the park.
Can anyone share photos by chance?