Joshua Tree National Park
The basics: This park in Southern California is filled with rugged rock formations, desert landscapes studded with oases and the gnarled bristle-topped yucca plants that give the park its name. Two distinct desert ecosystems — the Mojave and the Colorado — come together in this park, home to a variety of plants and animals such as burrowing rodents, lizards, bighorn sheep and desert tortoises.
Visitors: 2 million people visited the park in 2015
Square miles: 1,234
Established: 1994
More information: nps.gov/jotr; 1-760-367-5500
