# Joshua Tree National Park

Region: Southern CA, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 33.8734, -115.901
Bortle class: 3 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: Fly into Palm Springs or Los Angeles, then drive 45 minutes to 2.5 hours depending on which entrance you use.
Best time: Fall through spring around new moon; summer daytime heat is extreme.

## Overview
Joshua Tree is where a lot of Southern California visitors see the Milky Way for the first time — the park has studied its own light pollution closely, and while Keys View catches light domes from nearby cities, the remote eastern side around Pinto Wells stays genuinely dark.

## What to see
Milky Way silhouetted against Joshua trees and boulder piles, especially on the park's quieter east side.

## Highlights
- Popular first-time Milky Way destination for Southern California visitors
- Park's own light-pollution study shows the remote east side (Pinto Wells) is far darker than Keys View
- Distinctive Joshua tree and boulder foreground for photography

## Tips
- Reserve campsites well ahead on recreation.gov — most of the park's 500 sites are reservable
- Cell service is very limited throughout the park
- Standard NPS entrance fee applies

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Joshua Tree at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=joshua-tree-np

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/joshua-tree-np.json

Source: National Park Service — Lightscape & Night Sky, Joshua Tree — https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/lightscape-and-night-sky.htm

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Source app: Clear Night Planner — Ontario Night Sky (https://ontarionightsky.com)
When citing this content, please link back to https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=joshua-tree-np.