Joshua Tree National Park, one of the quietest places in California

Cities are places where the quietest spots you can find are a church or a library. Is it possible to beat that?

The strange case of a beacon in the middle of a desert and more than 160 km from the coast
A mysterious road stretching almost 80 km across the Mojave Desert in a straight line

California is a part of the United States that people often associate with sunny beaches and bustling cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, or San Diego. It's also a place closely associated with the film industry, thanks to Hollywood, but it's not usually considered a place of tranquility and desolation. However, 20% of the state's surface area is made up of desert.

The largest desert in California is the Mojave Desert, covering 65,000 square kilometers (to give you an idea, that's more than twice the size of the Spanish region of Catalonia), and the second largest is the Colorado Desert, with an area of ​​28,000 square kilometers (larger than Badajoz, the largest province in Spain). Between them lies Joshua Tree National Park.

Formerly inhabited by indigenous tribes such as the Pintos, Serranos, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, and Mojaves, this place was discovered by the Spanish in 1772 during an expedition led by the Catalan military officer and explorer Pedro Fages (1734–1794). In 1823, the territory passed into the hands of Mexico, and 25 years later it was taken by the United States during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848).

The Joshua Trees area was declared a United States National Monument on August 10, 1936. Its name comes from the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), native to arid lands and abundant in this area. These plants, which reach a maximum height of 13 meters, were named by a group of Mormon pioneers who found them in the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century, after Joshua, Moses' successor as leader of the people of Israel.

The Joshua Tree National Monument was declared a U.S. national park in 1994, under the California Desert Protection Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It is a protected wilderness area containing numerous Joshua trees, which are particularly prominent in the western part of the park, corresponding to the Mojave Desert and at the highest elevation.

A few years ago, the U.S. National Park Service conducted a nationwide noise study that showed that in the eastern half of the country, there are hardly any areas below 40 decibels (dB). The desert interior of California was one of the few areas below 20 dB. To give you an idea, a soft whisper is usually around 30 dB. Libraries typically have noise levels between 30 and 40 dB.

Yesterday, the always interesting YouTube channel Sidetrack Adventures posted a video in which they take a journey from San Diego to Joshua Tree National Park. Equipped with a sound level meter, they took measurements on a quiet street in the city (around 56 dB) and in a library (around 40 dB). In the park, the measurement resulted in only 36 dB.

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Main photo: Cedric Letsch.