North View, Maze, Window Rock Loop

Joshua Tree National Park, CA Joshua Tree Area

Trip stats

Distance
7.8 mi
Net Gain
900 ft
Time
3-5 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 1
Route
Loop

Ratings out of 10

Effort
2.4/10
Personality
5/10
Beauty
6/10
Solitude
3.2/10
What do these mean? →

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

34.080994, -116.242355

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Apr 14, 2018 — North View, Maze, Window Rock Loop is norotious for getting hikers lost. It's an official trail, but there are certainly spots where it's not super clear where to go if you're not paying attention to cairns/signs. The hike visits great rock formations as well as open desert and Joshua trees. Overall the hike is pretty flat, only gaining any notable amount of elevation early on.

I started clockwise via the North View Trail, which took me up through really gorgeous blocky Joshua Tree granite. There are two spur trails to named "lookouts", which were worth the detours. The trail continued down into hilly desert where I met with the Maze Trail. This section didn't feel more maze-like than the North View Trail, but it did have more great rocks to look at. I extended the Maze Trail a bit by including the Window Rock Loop to see more pretty desert scenery. To complete the loop, the trail heads northwest through mostly open desert, almost paralleling the scenic road through Joshua Tree National Park.

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Photos

26 photos

  1. Starting along the North View Trail.
  3. You gain the majority of the hike's elevation toward the beginning of the North View Trail, but otherwise the hike is relatively flat.
  8. Junction with the Copper Mountain side trail viewpoint.
  9. Copper Mountain View.
  11. Another named view called "West Hills View".
  12. Leaving the rocky area of the North View Trail and descending.
  18. Somewhere along the Maze Trail.
  20. Maze Trail.
  21. Just before joining with the Window Rock Loop. You can see Window Rock at the very top of the right rocky hill here. The trail doesn't get much closer to be able to see it.
  22. Pretty sections of the Window Rock Loop.
  24. Open desert walking for the last couple miles of the loop.

Photo 1 of 1

Hire me or show some love!

Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

Hire me PayPal Venmo Cash App