Scenic pullout · Joshua Tree National Park
Look for two old mine structures high on the rocky slope.
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
Silver Bell Mine Viewpoint: Look High on the Slope“Silver Bell Mine Viewpoint is coming up on Pinto Basin Road. Stop for a distant look at two dark wooden ore bins high on the rocky slope.”
Plays as you drive up to Silver Bell Mine Viewpoint in the Parkwolf Joshua Tree Tour Guide.
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“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
Silver Bell Mine Viewpoint is a roadside pullout on Pinto Basin Road, where you scan the rocky hills for the remains of Silver Bell Mine. Keep it as a short stop if you’re interested in the park’s mining past; the structures are small and high on the slope, so this is a view from the road rather than a visit to the mine itself.
Find the two dark wooden structures near the upper part of the rocky slope. Silver Bell is one of about 300 mines that once operated in what is now Joshua Tree National Park. The viewpoint gives you a glimpse of that wider mining history without sending you to the mine’s old workings.
This stop sits in the transition zone between the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Creosote, desert lavender, bladderpod and other shrubs grow around the pullout. For a photo, include some foreground scrub and the rocky hillside so the distant structures have context instead of disappearing against the sky. Use the roadside layby and interpretive board; this is a viewpoint, not access to the abandoned mine.
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
ModerateSilver Bell Mine Trail1.4 mi · 1 hr · At the trailheadAn informal climb to two weathered ore bins above Pinto Basin.
EasyCholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail0.3 mi · 21 min · 1.9 mi awayA quarter-mile loop through thousands of teddy-bear cholla.
Sight · 1.8 mi awayCholla Cactus GardenA short, flat loop through nearly ten acres of cholla.
Scenic pullout · 3.1 mi awayOcotillo PatchA spring roadside stop for ocotillo and valley views.
Sight · 4.9 mi awayArch RockA natural arch tucked into a maze of sculpted desert boulders.
Campground · 4.9 mi awayWhite Tank CampgroundCamp among the boulders, with Arch Rock close at hand.
Sight · 4.9 mi awayHeart RockFind the angle that turns this granite boulder into a desert heart.Parkwolf’s Joshua Tree ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
