I cannot recommend Big Wheel Tours or the tour guide Isobel enough. I do recommend that if you take a tour that you book directly with them. I booked through a third party company and it turned out Big Wheel hadn’t received my booking and because nobody else signed up the tour wasn’t scheduled. Even though it wasn’t their mistake, the owner Evan, who couldn’t be nicer, fit me into a different Joshua Tree tour and offered me a full refund. Additionally, even though this tour does not focus on the big tourist attractions, they added stops to places I (and the other guests) wanted to see because that was the tour I had planned (if you want to see the main attractions you should take the other tour though).
I had planned to take the Joshua Tree highlights tour but am so glad I ended up on this tour. For most of the tour, we were the only people in sight. This tour is great for solo travelers and small groups alike.
Isobel was so kind and fun to talk to and incredibly knowledgeable. I have taken very few tours in my life, but this experience changed that for me, I learned so much about the history and geology of Joshua Tree that I would have missed out on so much had I not taken this tour.
Next time I’m in the area, I will definitely be taking a tour with Big Wheel and I have recommended this tour to friends.