In December 1986, photographer Anton Corbijn drove U2 into the California desert to shoot an album cover. They needed something stark, something American, something that would look like the sound they were making. Near Darwin, California, Corbijn found a lone Joshua tree against the Sierra Nevada mountains and shot the image that would become one of rock's most recognized album covers. The Joshua Tree sold 25 million copies. Fans started searching for Corbijn's tree. They found it, visited it, posed with it, loved it until it died. The original tree fell in a windstorm in 2000; the replacement stump still draws pilgrims seeking something an album made them feel.
Anton Corbijn had worked with U2 since 1982, developing the stark black-and-white aesthetic that defined their image. For The Joshua Tree, he wanted American landscapes - the band's new sound drew on blues, country, and American mythology. They shot in Death Valley and the Mojave, looking for images that matched songs like 'Where the Streets Have No Name' and 'With or Without You.' Near Darwin, California, Corbijn spotted a lone Joshua tree against the mountains. The band posed beneath it as the sun set. Corbijn shot in color for the first time with U2. The image was perfect.
Joshua trees aren't trees - they're yuccas, part of the agave family, native to the Mojave Desert. They grow slowly and live for centuries, their twisted forms shaped by wind and drought. The tree Corbijn photographed wasn't remarkable by Joshua tree standards - just another specimen in a landscape full of them. What made it special was location: isolated against the Sierra backdrop, accessible from a dirt road, positioned where the light fell exactly right. That arbitrary confluence of geography and timing made one tree immortal while its neighbors remained anonymous.
As The Joshua Tree became one of rock's landmark albums, fans wanted to find the actual tree. It wasn't easy - Corbijn didn't reveal the location, and the album sleeve showed only desert and mountains. But devoted fans searched satellite images, compared angles, and eventually pinpointed the tree near Darwin. They started visiting: posing for photos, leaving tributes, touching the bark that U2 had touched. The attention stressed the tree. Vandals carved initials. Visitors trampled the surrounding ground. By the late 1990s, the tree was struggling.
The original Joshua tree died in 2000, toppled by a windstorm - whether weakened by visitor impact or just unlucky, no one can say. The stump remains, identifiable but unrecognizable from the album cover. Fans still visit; the GPS coordinates circulate online. Some leave tributes at the stump; others search for another tree that matches the album image, hoping to recreate what Corbijn found. U2 has never officially confirmed the location. The pilgrimage continues to a dead tree in a desert full of living ones, seeking something that was never really about the tree.
The album cover location is near Darwin, California, in the Mojave Desert between Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park. The exact site is on private land; access is technically trespassing though commonly tolerated. Joshua Tree National Park, 100 miles south, offers legal access to thousands of Joshua trees and the surreal boulder landscapes that define the region. The park has campgrounds, hiking trails, and the bizarre rock formations that attract climbers worldwide. The town of Joshua Tree has restaurants and lodging with desert-art aesthetic. Death Valley is north with its own stark landscapes. Visit in spring when wildflowers may bloom, or fall when temperatures moderate. Summer exceeds 110°F regularly.
Located at 36.25°N, 117.59°W in the Mojave Desert, California. From altitude, the area appears as typical high desert - creosote bush and scattered Joshua trees against the eastern Sierra Nevada backdrop. The specific album cover location is not distinguishable from surrounding terrain - one Joshua tree among thousands. Darwin is visible as a tiny settlement nearby. Death Valley lies to the east; the Sierra Nevada rises to the west. Joshua Tree National Park is 100 miles south. The landscape that made an album cover famous looks like any other piece of Mojave from the air; meaning comes from what happened there, not what's visible.