As someone who has spent a lot of time in the high desert towns of Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley, I’ve long been skeptical of anyone who predicted that Twentynine Palms was about to become the new desert hot spot. In theory, it makes sense. Located just 20 minutes from downtown Joshua Tree, the town of 29,000 boasts its own, less crowded entrance to the national park and a brand new visitors center that opened in 2023. It also has the luxuriously rustic Twentynine Palms Inn, which opened in 1928, and a few culinary gems like Rib Co. for barbecue and the Jelly Donut for pho. But Twentynine Palms is both a few degrees warmer than Joshua Tree and a longer drive from L.A. It also lies outside the natural range of the spiky Joshua trees that lend its better-known neighbors so much of its otherworldly ambience (not to mention their Instagram appeal). And then there’s Twentynine Palms’ noticeably high concentration of barbershops, fast food restaurants and tattoo parlors, which makes sense for the 20,000 …