Picnic area · Joshua Tree National Park
Picnic tables, boulders to scramble, and a curious old oak.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Joshua Tree Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Joshua Tree National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Joshua Tree audio tourRecorded for this place
Live Oak Picnic Area and Its Unlikely Tree“You're coming up on Live Oak Picnic Area, a place to combine lunch with a wander among the boulders. Bring your own food; the tables have limited shade.”
Plays as you drive up to Live Oak Picnic Area in the Parkwolf Joshua Tree Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Live Oak Picnic Area is a day-use picnic spot along Park Boulevard, tucked among Joshua Tree's rock formations about two miles west of the Pinto Basin Road junction. I'd stop for lunch and leave time to nose around the boulders; visitors come here to scramble and explore, so it feels like more than a quick parking break.
The picnic tables sit in several pockets. The namesake oak is farther along an unpaved spur toward the wash, beyond the first tables; expect a short walk from the road's end. From the wash, look across toward Ivanpah Dam and notice the narrow rock dikes cutting through the outcrops.
There are picnic tables, grills, auto parking and restrooms, including an accessible restroom and a vault or composting toilet. Bring your own food; no food service is listed here. Shade at the picnic tables is limited, so pack drinking water and consider pausing near the oak, where visitors report more shade. A potable-water source wasn't identified for this stop.
The Old Oak is a natural hybrid: Muller’s oak supplied the seed, and valley oak supplied the pollen. When the tree was discussed by park vegetation staff in 2016, the nearest known valley oak was at least 100 miles away. Wind or people may have carried the pollen, but how it happened remains unsettled. The tree grows in a wash that catches extra runoff after major storms.
The boulders, gullies and dikes reward an unhurried wander. After a wet winter, spring wildflowers may show in the wash. Think of this as a picnic stop with room to explore, not a destination hike.
Wildlife
129 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
15 sightingsGolden EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
413 sightingsDesert TortoiseMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
275 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
47 sightingsBobcatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
32 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Joshua Tree. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyDiscovery Trail0.7 mi · 36 min · 0.6 mi awayA short loop through washes, rock slots, and a desert overlook.
EasySkull Rock Nature Trail1.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayA short loop to a skull-shaped granite formation
ModerateSplit Rock Loop Trail2.5 mi · 2 hr · 0.7 mi awayA short boulder loop with a Face Rock detour worth the turn.
EasyArch Rock Trail1.3 mi · 1 hr · 1.8 mi awayA short sandy walk ends at a sculpted granite arch.
EasyLucky Boy Vista Trail2.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayAn easy desert walk to mine remains and a wide valley overlook.
EasyLucky Boy Loop3.3 mi · 2.3 hr · 2.2 mi awayDesert views, old mine remains, and a final road stretch.
ChallengingEagle Cliff Mine Trail3.5 mi · 3 hr · 2.2 mi awayA hidden cabin in boulders, reached by a faint desert route
EasyDesert Queen Mine Trail1.5 mi · 1.3 hr · 2.2 mi awayOld mine gear rewards a short desert walk; stay outside the gates.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayFace RockA face in the rocks rewards a short spur detour.Sight · 0.6 mi awaySkull RockA skull-shaped granite boulder makes a memorable roadside pause.Sight · 0.7 mi awaySplit RockThe namesake boulder sits at the start of a 2.5-mile desert loop.
Campground · 0.9 mi awayJumbo Rocks CampgroundA campsite in a maze of boulders, with stars overhead after dark.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayEagle Cliff Mine and Boulder HouseA miner’s stone cabin tucked into a narrow boulder cleft.
Campground · 1.8 mi awayBelle CampgroundEighteen simple sites tucked among Joshua trees and granite boulders.
Sight · 2 mi awayDesert Queen MineWalk a short loop past ore bins, old shafts and mining debris.
Campground · 2.2 mi awayWhite Tank CampgroundCamp among the boulders, with Arch Rock close at hand.Parkwolf’s Joshua Tree ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
