If your group, large or small, is searching for a special experience in Joshua Tree National Park tailored to your interests, the Desert Institute will design an educational class for you making sure that the expert instruction is just what you are looking for. The activity level and optional field component will match your itinerary perfectly for one-day or multi-day excursions.

Our most popular spring costum-designed programs are below:

Day with a Desert Naturalist
Learn the secrets of Joshua Tree National Park in an all-day field class with a desert naturalist. Groups will explore the unique landscape of the park focusing on an area of interest to them. Common topics to be covered are: geology, cultural history, flora, and ecology found in the vast valleys, rock mazes, desert cactus gardens, and Joshua tree forests. Most programs cover eight miles at a moderate pace with uneven terrain and moderate elevation gain.

Wildflower Wanderings
Saturate your senses with the beauty of a wildflower bloom in Joshua Tree National Park. A desert naturalist will lead this all-day field class on a tour through the colorful flowers of a desert spring. Participants will be entertained with descriptions of the flora, their botanical characteristics, and shown how to identify the unique blossoms of the park. The audience will be delighted by the instructor's personal accounts of the wonders of nature in this ordinarily dry and dusty environment. The Instructor will identify the flowers of Joshua Tree National Park by scientific and common names, allowing the participants to get to know these amazing plants up close and personal.

Photograph by Howard Gross

Program Cost (rates effective through May 2012)

1 - 6 Participants, Half day - $300

1 - 6 Participants, Full day - $500

7 + Participants, please call for rates

For more information contact the Desert Institute office:
desertinstitute@zippnet.net or (760) 367-5535