Hiking Trails – Arizona’s Joshua Tree Forest

Trail NameArizona’s Joshua Tree Forest
Location: near Meadview
Distance: 0.1 mile (loop) 
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Point of Interest: a scenic stop to watch the huge joshua trees against the mountain back drop.
Permit: Not required
Wheelchair friendly: No
Pet friendly: Yes but got to be on leash
Rating: Easy

Friends of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization maintains & preserves the incomparable Joshua Trees of the Grapevine Mesa in Meadview, northwestern Arizona.

Joshua Tree Forest encompasses nearly 44,000 acres, and this small stretch offers the visitors a quick glance of an incomparably beautiful “forest” of Joshua Trees (yucca brevifolia). It is mostly confined to the Mohave Desert between 1300 ft. and 5900 ft. in elevation. These trees can live for hundreds of years while surviving the rigors of the desert.

This amazing high desert forest of Joshua trees is located off of Pierce Ferry Rd and Highway 93 between Kingman, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Why is it called Joshua Tree?

According to Wikipedia, the name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree’s unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer.

Happy Trails!