Pioneertown Mountains Preserve
Hiking in the Pioneertown Mountains Preserve | Visiting Pioneertown | Hiking the Friendly Hills Trail | Joshua Tree, CA | January 2025
This morning while discussing what we wanted to do today, I remembered that Sarah had mentioned she had never been to a ghost town before. I know it’s not quite a ghost town, but that reminded me of Pioneertown, a Western themed town/tourist attraction that Curtis and I had stopped at briefly in 2014. That seemed like an experience that’s pretty exclusive to the Southwest, so we decided to incorporate it into today’s plans. And since there is a mountain preserve not far from there, we headed in that direction to go for a hike.
At first we thought we’d check out some trails in Sands and Snow National Monument, but the roads to get there looked pretty sandy and we didn’t want to risk it in Sarah’s rental car (I don’t know if we would’ve risked it in the van either). So instead, we just headed towards Pioneertown Mountains Preserve. We drove as far as we felt comfortable, and ended up parking in a pull off about a half mile away from the trailhead because of a stream crossing over the road. We then walked the rest of the way to the trailhead. There were patches of snow on the ground and ice in the stream, but thankfully it wasn’t too cold, and the winds from earlier this week had calmed down a bit.
We didn’t know much about the area, but knew there was a canyon trail that we thought would be easy enough that maybe even Charlotte would do. However, that trail turned out to be closed so we ended up having to pivot again. Luckily there was another trail there, but this one was a longer peak trail that we weren’t exactly prepared for. But I figured that since we’re in the desert, we didn’t necessarily need to hike all the way to a summit to get good views, so Sarah and I decided to just go for it and see how far we could get. Once again, Curtis stayed back with Charlotte, who was much more interested in this parking lot with all new smells.
We started on the trail, which first went downhill and across a wash before beginning its ascent up the next ridge over. It had a nice, gradual elevation gain with plenty of switchbacks along the way. The rocky trail sometimes was a bit loose and slick, but that’s really only and issue when you’re heading downhill. I was right that we wouldn’t have to go far to get good views — after clearing the first ridge, we could see far to the East, and got a peek of the Sawtooth peaks to the South.
We were feeling great and the weather was good, but since we had neglected to bring some hiking essentials…like water….we definitely didn’t want to push ourselves too hard. I knew this trail was 5 miles round trip, but since we had parked further away it would be more like 6 if we did the whole thing. We sort of picked out a peak that it looked like the trail was going to and wondered if it was it, and decided that regardless that would be our turn around point. When we arrived, we found that it wasn’t the end of the trail, but after it the trail looked like it went downhill quite a ways while continuing out to whatever was the true peak. So we decided our idea of turning around here was a smart plan, and took pictures to commemorate making it to our own peak. We then retraced our steps back, careful on the slick or steeper spots, and soon made our way back to the trailhead, and then Curtis and Charlotte, who had made it back to the car.
Next, it was time to go check out Pioneertown. We made the short drive over, parked, then got out and began walking through the Western street. Thankfully it was dog friendly, so we were all able to walk through along with Charlie. It was fairly busy today, definitely more so than it had been 10 years ago when Curtis and I went. We didn’t remember much, just coming here to find a letterbox and then going on our way. Today we made up for that by walking all the way up and down the road and checking out a few shops along the way. We decided to get lunch at the Red Dog Bar, which was a little overpriced, but that’s to be expected from such a touristy spot.
After that, we returned back to the rental house to rest for a few hours before going out for one last sunset hike together. We wanted something that would be easy, dog friendly, and scenic, so we drove over to the Friendly Hills trail which was at the back of a neighborhood and just outside the national park boundary. It ended up being the perfect little walk through Joshua trees and gorgeous desert scenery. While we couldn’t see the sunset to the Southeast, the pink skies that reflected the light made for a stunning backdrop to the area. It reminded me of how much I love golden hour in the desert, when the skies turn pink and the surrounding mountains turn pastel blue and purple, and I was so happy to get to share this with Sarah.
We wrapped up the night with pizza and a soak in the hot tub. Sarah would be returning home the next day, and while her visit was short, it meant the world to me that she wanted to spend her few days off visiting me in the desert. We were also very grateful for the opportunity to use the shower and laundry machines in the rental…I don’t want to say how long it had been since our last shower, but you know how people will say “I haven’t showered since last year!” At 12:01am on January 1? Well why are they considered “funny” for that, meanwhile when we say it on January 9 we are “disgusting”? 
