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Photo of Joshua Tree by tinyfroglet on Flickr

We at Peek are always faintly embarrassed when we reach the end of a season and realize, for instance, that our kicky snowboarding has never made it anywhere near the slopes. We cannot let you meet the same fate, so while we’re celebrating explorers and conservation, and selling the most darling hiking shorts imaginable, we’re also bent on helping you explore the outdoors – and see first-hand how conservation and exploration make life better for you.

When people first visit Joshua Tree National Park, the emails they send home say things like “Wild. Ancient. Surreal. Like another planet. Where the Flintstones might live.” Going there is really like visiting an alien world. The gnarled, up-reaching yucca palms that lend the park its name were given that moniker by Mormon settlers, who saw something passionate and imploring in the tree’s shape and named it after a Biblical story about Joshua raising his hands to the sky, or pointing them to the promised land. In turn, when casting about for a title for their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, U2 found something uniquely American about this hardy tree, able to thrive in harsh desert conditions; Rolling Stone said the title evokes “resilience in the face of utter social and political desolation,” for a record “steeped in religious imagery.”

Skull Rock, courtesy of the National Park Service

In addition to the mysterious and Dr. Seuss-like tree, the Joshua Tree is filled with rambling rock formations created from ancient magma bubbling up from the ground, then cooled and shaped by centuries of unpredictable torrents of rain. These rock formations have crazy names, like Skull Rock, Giant Marbles and Old Woman Rock. (That last one also applies to Cher.)

Visiting the park, it’s easy to understand the inspiration. But there’s more to do here than just stand around going “wow!” An old-timey ranch, Keys Ranch, is a great place for kids to ask a costumed ranger about life on the old range. Crazy amounts of birds pass through Joshua Tree, with spring being high season for seeing anything from yellow-rumped warblers, rough-legged hawks, black-necked stilts and even a gaggle of turkey vultures. (Why no, we have no idea what any of those are. But the visitor centers have handy checklists explaining it all to you.) There’s horseback riding, overnight campgrounds with toilets and showers, unbelievable stargazing, and mountain biking.

Conservationist Minerva Hoyt, courtesy of National Park Service.

Joshua Tree has had people traipsing across it for some 5,000 years, and there are dozens of archaeological sites on its 825,000 acres to prove it. In the late 1920s, a conservationist named Minerva Hoyt became horribly worried about the cacti being plundered and removed to decorate LA yards, and dedicated her life to the preservation of desert areas. She worked her way up to President Theodore Roosevelt to get the area named a national monument in 1936; it was named a national park in 1994, lending it even more protection.

But it may not be enough. Climate change is threatening the very existence of the tree that has survived so much. A visit to these amazing desert trees will be more than a great time for your family—it’ll be a lasting reminder that widespread conservation can reverse a very tangible threat to the environment.

And of course, no visit to SoCal would be complete without a visit to Peek’s stores in Fashion Island, Fashion Valley and Santa Monica!