Joshua Tree National Park Audio Driving Tour

Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park. You should be in the small parking lot just after the official entrance to the park. Behind you is the pay station and visitors' centre, and in front of you the open road – but don't start driving just yet.

This audio tour has been designed to guide you through this famous desert park. As you travel through the park, I'll provide you with information about several major sites. If the weather is good, you can stop at some of the limited parking spots these locations offer. You'll get a better grasp of the raw nature outside of the armor of a car.

This audio tour will feature information drawn from the Joshua Tree National Park tours, conducted by Outdoor Adventures. We'll also include expert information from geologists and professional eco-guides who know the Indian and pop-culture history of this place.

[1,5 SECOND PAUSE]

When you're ready to get going, start driving away from the visitors' centre. We'll be following this road for quite some time. VoiceMap uses GPS to pinpoint your location and trigger the relevant audio while you drive. This means you can put your phone down now, and relax. I will tell you where to go. Some silence is normal – we're just between locations. Simply continue driving straight, unless I tell you otherwise.

[2 SECOND PAUSE]

U2 came here to write their songs and were in the company of many a poet and musician that came to the high desert to escape the mania of the city below.

Here in Joshua Tree National Park, you enter one of the most inhospitable places for life. The park receives less than 3 inches per year of rainfall, and is the boundary between 30 million people and the largest collection of city roads and highways on the planet. Here in the Mojave, the population falls to practically zero, and the land stretches some 150 miles to Las Vegas before human influence arises again.

Keep following the road straight ahead. I'll catch up with you as you continue through the park, giving you helpful hints and information along the way. I will even show you some nice areas for a small hike to see things up close.