The low-walled park sign at the West Entrance comes from a 1962 design, and the small lot beside it holds restrooms and a water bottle station, the last water on this road for about 29 miles. The fee station stands just past it and takes cards only.
Water, on your right, in about three hundred yards. Pull in, fill up, and turn right when you leave. Look right for the low curved walls at the park sign. That small lot has restrooms and the last water for about twenty-nine miles. The fee station is just past that lot. It takes debit or credit cards only. The fee is thirty dollars a vehicle, covering everyone inside. Sometimes the booth is closed, and then you may be asked to show a pass or pay on your way out, because even a straight drive through needs a pass. The road splits around the station. There's no turn there, just stay in your lane, and hold to the posted limit once you're through. Those curved walls were designed in November of nineteen sixty-two, because the old entrance pylons were small and many times not noticed. The wings were meant to look like outstretched arms, welcoming you in. Building them ran late. A report put the boundary wall at forty percent complete, quote, with a slight delay due to the subcontractor shooting himself in the leg during a quick-draw practice session on the weekend, unquote. He was expected back on the job shortly. The first name proposed for this place, in nineteen thirty, was Desert Plants National Park. Say that one slowly, and be glad somebody kept thinking.
Photo: NPS / Brad Sutton · Public domain (NPS staff photo)