Joshua Tree Village is the little desert town at the western gate of Joshua Tree National Park, a place of low buildings, rock shops, cafes, vintage stores and art galleries, where the desert light seems to have drawn a good many musicians, painters and hikers. It sits at about twenty-seven hundred feet in the high Mojave, where the air is dry and clear, the nights are cold, and the horizon is a long line of boulders and yucca. It has a relaxed, slightly eccentric feel.
The tree that gives the place its name is not really a tree but a giant yucca, with spiky green leaves and a twisted, branching trunk. Mormon settlers are said to have named it after the biblical Joshua, seeing the outstretched arms as a gesture of prayer. The trees grow only in the Mojave Desert, and they thrive at this elevation, forming open woodlands that, in spring, burst with creamy white flowers. The surrounding hills are piles of rounded granite boulders, which attract rock climbers from around the world.
Park Boulevard enters the park a short distance from town and runs through the heart of it, across a high plateau of boulders, yuccas and desert scrub, with views of distant ranges. The road is smooth, with long gentle bends and low speed limits, and it passes the Hidden Valley, Jumbo Rocks and the Cholla Cactus Garden, where the spiny plants glow in the low sun. Traffic is heavy in spring and on weekends, and there are cyclists and climbers on the road. Wind can be strong, and dust storms occasionally sweep across the flats.
Fuel is available in Joshua Tree and in the larger town of Yucca Valley, about eleven kilometres away, and it is important to fill up before entering the park, where there are no stations. Cafes and shops line the highway, and the nearby ghost-town-turned-film-set of Pioneertown is a fun detour. Summer temperatures can exceed forty degrees Celsius, so ride in the cool months, from October to May. The night skies are dark and clear, with a dense spread of stars, and the sunrise over the boulders is a good reason to get up early.