Which So. Cal desert?
 

We are looking to take a weekend trip to either Joshua Tree National Park or Mojave national preserve. the latter is about 30 miles further from where we will be staying. Is one park better than the other? does anyone prefer one over the other?

I found that Joshua Tree National Monument is more "scenic" than Mojave. The Joshua trees exist in a more mountainous, high desert environment. There are lots of interesting rock formations in Joshua Tree as well.

Both are awesome and best visited in late Fall or early Spring when the temperatures are most pleasant.

Joshua Tree is more developed and is closer to towns that have accommodations and restaurants. It's also going to be more crowded. Because of the interesting rock formations, there are a lot of climbers there. If you haven't been you should go.

But the Mojave Preserve is well worth a visit too. However, the best parts of the Mojave Preserve require the use of a high clearance vehicle. It's more of a backcountry park. The really neat stuff is off the beaten track on dirt or gravel roads. For example, the Kelso Dunes is an awesome place well worth visiting and so is the Black Canyon area in the Providence Mountains.

Here's a government description of the area.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/cal...ima_amboy.html

We like to drive from through the Mohave between Twentynine Palms and Las Vegas following this routing going north: Amboy, Kelso (Visitor Center), Cima, Wheaton Springs.

It is just as or more beautiful going south.

Joshua Tree NP is beautiful for rock formations. There seem to be more Joshua Trees elsewhere these days.

If you like hiking Joshua Tree has some good trails of all lengths, and some of the unpaved roads are suitable for passenger cars.

I hope you were planning on going in cooler weather, though.