Talking about the Car Wash, Yeah!

Explore Landscapes #82

No, I'm not talking about the 1976 Rose Royce hit, but a wash in the middle of nowhere in the Sonoran (Colorado) desert that's full of old cars.

The ‘Car Wash’ | © 2025 Jon Norris

I’d heard tales from various JT friends and read a couple of hiking blog posts about a wash in the middle of the Joshua Tree desert that’s full of cars. The ‘Car Wash’.

The exact location of the Car Wash isn’t shared online so as to maintain it’s mystique, but also so that it’s not overrun with visitors who may not leave it as-is. Also, it’s quite literally in the middle of nowhere, miles from the pavement, and if you’re not prepared for hiking in the desert then it could present a risk.

I’m going to maintain the ‘mystique’ and not share the location, except to say that it’s in the southern part of Joshua Tree National Park in the Sonoran (Colorado) desert.

I’d seen photographs of the Car Wash and with some sleuthing of the ridge lines visible in those photos, and a couple of hours looking at Google Earth, I thought I knew where it might be.

This was the middle hike of three in one weekend that I’m going to write about. The previous article, Silence. Solitude. Space, covered the last hike of the three.

Miles from pavement I find the first sign that I may be on the right track | © 2025 Jon Norris

I parked the truck, took a map bearing and started hiking straight out into the desert. There was no evidence that I may be in the right location until after about a mile I started to see desert ‘treasure’, i.e. man-made artifacts, such as the fuel can shown above.

A gate to nowhere | © 2025 Jon Norris

After another half mile or so I came upon a gate and a few fence posts, and beyond that was some kind of dwelling, or rather what was left of it. The old range had been used for target practice, and everywhere you looked there were other artifacts and debris.

Before this became target practice it was someone’s home | © 2025 Jon Norris

A clear sign that there may be vehicles nearby | © 2025 Jon Norris

The first ‘clear’ sign that there were likely to be vehicles close by was the pile of tires found near the old dwelling.

Typically in the desert when a vehicle stopped working, and was therefore of limited use, anything useable was stripped from it for re-use somewhere else. I imagine that the pile of tires was considered to be spares for other vehicles.

The first four vehicles in the car wash | © 2025 Jon Norris

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something out in the distance that looked like the roof of a vehicle. I walked towards it and sure enough it was an old car. It was the first of the eleven ‘almost complete’ vehicles that were ‘parked’ in the wash.

The desert is gradually reclaiming the cars | © 2025 Jon Norris

Scattered amongst the mainly complete vehicles were numerous pieces of other cars: grills, fenders, light surrounds, dashboards, etc.

I spent a fun hour or so exploring all the vehicles (without touching or disturbing them in any way), and of course taking photographs.

Every which way | © 2025 Jon Norris

Upside down | © 2025 Jon Norris

Four in a row | © 2025 Jon Norris

All lined up and nowhere to go | © 2025 Jon Norris

All alone | © 2025 Jon Norris

Wilderness Window | © 2025 Jon Norris

After getting my fill of the ‘Car Wash’, I took a map bearing that would take me back to my truck. A couple of miles later, I was reunited with Rufus, and headed back to the campsite.

I ate my dinner that night happy to have found what I was scouting for and looking forward to heading back to the ‘Car Wash’ another time.

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March 2025 (One Month - One Picture)

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Spring Flora of Joshua Tree National Park