On a Tuesday earlier this month, Frank Solis, a 28-year-old construction worker from Riverside, found himself unexpectedly without work.

He had been busy building some of the chain fitness centers that popped up all over the Inland area in the last couple years, but things have slowed down lately, he said with a shrug.
"You know, with the economy," he said, his voice trailing off.

On this day, his fiancée Melissa Fowler, a 26-year-old college student, had the day off, too. Her professors were on furlough, she said.

So the couple, their 5-year-old son, Dyami, and Fowler's parents headed out to Joshua Tree National Park. They spent the morning hiking, then had a picnic on a bench shaded by a tree growing between two monstrous piles of boulders.

The park is one of the family's favorite day-trip destinations, said Dan Fowler, 53, Melissa's father. It is beautiful and hiking is great exercise, he said, but it has another big advantage. It's cheap.

"We have a national park pass, so basically it costs us gas," Fowler said.

"Disneyland is crazy expensive. There's no expense here," Melissa said.

Since 2006, the number of people visiting Joshua Tree has grown steadily, said park spokesman Joe Zarki. In 2006, the park drew 1,256,000 visitors. The next year, 1,300,000 came. In 2008, more than 1,392,000 came. In 2009, the number shrank a little to 1,300,000, but that still is very high, Zarki said.

Joshua Tree may be more popular because when times are hard, people vacation closer to home.

"Instead of taking that big trip to the Grand Tetons, they say, 'Well, let's go to Joshua Tree National Park,' " he said.

Other national parks far from urban areas suffer attendance declines of as much as 30 percent during bad economies, he said.

"We didn't see that here," he said.

The national parks are benefitting from better funding, Zarki said.

In 2007, Joshua Tree's base budget was $4.3 million. In 2008, it rose to $5.1 million and in 2009, it rose to $5.5 million. In 2010, he expects it to be $6.3 million.

The park also received $4 million in road improvements under the stimulus plan.

This made it possible to improve the park's services, which may be attracting more people.

"It enables us to be much more visible to our visitors," he said. "We can do wildflower walks, talk to them about what's happening in the park."

State parks haven't been so fortunate. They had $14.2 million cut from their budgets, which includes $1.2 million in furloughs, said Ron Krueper, superintendent for California State Parks' Inland Empire district.

So the parks close at least once a week and for some, as much as three days a week, Krueper said.

"We're usually open all the time and people can come by on the drop of a dime to enjoy the state parks," Krueper said.

Still, more people visited state parks in 2009 than the year before, especially in the summer months.

In June 2008, 95,581 people visited Lake Perris, a state park in the district. In June 2009, 100,037 people showed up.

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