JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, A Visit to Historic Keys Ranch, Guest Post by Susan Kean

Keys Ranch, main house, Joshua Tree National Park.

My friend Susan Kean loves to travel and has been a regular contributor to this blog. In February, she drove with friends to Joshua Tree National Park from her home in Redlands, California. I was particularly interested to hear about her visit to Keys Ranch, once a homestead and now a historic site within the park. Joshua Tree became a National Monument in 1936 and a National Park in 1994. 

Here is Susan's report.

I recently spent an overnight in Joshua Tree National Park with my friends Barbara and Sue. On our way out, we enjoyed the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and walked around at the top of the mountain. There was a small amount of snow. The day was glorious, so the view from the top was magnificent.

At the top of the tramway.

Then we headed over to our lodging in the Joshua Tree area in an incredibly isolated location down about two miles of dirt road. 

Desert landscape with Joshua Tree.

The antelope ground squirrel is adapted to desert life, using its tail to shade itself from the sun.

It was a real adventure with a spectacular nighttime view of the stars.

Mining equipment at Keys Ranch. They mined silver and gold.

The next day we booked a tour of Keys Ranch. This was a mining and cattle ranch built by homesteader William Keys in 1910. 

He kept everything.

This was the chicken coop--to give the chickens a safe place at night from coyotes.

Since farming in the desert was very difficult, many other homesteaders left and he acquired their land. He built up a huge area of land which he eventually sold but on condition that he and his wife could live out their lives there. The person they sold it to gave it to the Government and it became Joshua Tree National Park.

View down to the Salton Sea.

Note from CA: You an learn more about the creation of Joshua Tree National Park in the excellent children’s book, Cactus Queen by Lori Alexander, the story of Minerva Hoyt, who campaigned in Washington, D.C. for the creation of the park.