Finding All Joshua Tree National Park Entrance Signs
All three Joshua Tree National Park entrance signs are very similar in how they look. They are each made with light tan bricks, and the words are etched onto wooden boards painted the usual NPS brown.
Joshua Tree National Park
Best Months: October, November, March & April
Hours: 365 days a year, 24 hours a day
Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle, valid for 7 days
(North) Twentynine Palms Entrance Sign
Location: Park Blvd, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277
GPS Coordinates: 34.078307, -116.036565
The Twentynine Palms entrance to the park is also referred to as the North entrance. This particular sign is only a few feet before the fee station.
(West) Joshua Tree Entrance Sign
Location: Park Blvd, Joshua Tree, CA 92252
GPS Coordinates: 34.093751, -116.265768
The Joshua Tree (the city, not the park) entrance to the park is also referred to as the West entrance. This particular sign is only a few feet before the fee station.
(South) Riverside Entrance Sign
Address: Cottonwood Springs Road, Indio, CA 92201
GPS Coordinates: 33.675532, -115.801644
The Riverside entrance to the park is also referred to as the South entrance. This entrance does not have a fee station near it. If you find yourself entering here, you need to continue 6 miles up Cottonwood Springs Road to the Cottonwood Visitor Center.
Other Joshua Tree National Park Signs
Every entrance sign also has an exit sign. The “Leaving Joshua Tree National Park” signs are all directly across the road from the entrance signs. There is little fanfare or extra design choices for the exits. They simply tell you that you’re leaving the park boundary.
Joshua Tree was designated as a National Monument until 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act. This act also changed Death Valley from a National Monument to a National Park, while also establishing the Mojave National Preserve, which is about 60 miles, or 1 hour, north of Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree National Monument was established in 1936, and kept that designation until 1994 when Congress changed it to a National Park. Times were different back then: In 1957 – when this picture was taken – the park had a little over 320,000 visitors a year. Today, Joshua Tree sees over 3,000,000 visitors a year.
