Moments in Dirt and Ink

Joshua Tree National Park Click for map. I wanted to be sure I stopped by an oasis while around Joshua Tree, so made my way to Fortynine Palms. The trail outside of Twentynine Palms starts just inside Joshua Tree National Park, but does not have an entrance fee. Again, there is a sign detailing the statistics of the hike and stressing that it might be too strenuous for you. Here it gets particularly worried about the passers by because part of the trail on the way out is uphill. Mounted on the side is a huge thermometer so people can know exactly how hot it is out. Today, that isn't even all the way up to 60°F. Signs at the start of the trail. The first bit of the trail is climbing. It doesn't actually start in the canyon with the oasis, so has to climb up and over to the correct canyon. Twentynine Palms comes into view below, stretching far and somewhat obscured by fog. The desert terrain to hike through. The rocks take on odd shapes. This looks over t...

Joshua Tree National Park Click for map. The second hike I signed up for was originally going to be Mineral and Tip Top, two on the far northeast side of San Bernardino National Forest, but there was a report that the road was more impassible than usual after the recent rain. Instead the group decided to do a loop over Ryan Mountain and Lost Horse Mountain as a shuttle. I'd been trying to get some interest in doing this as a loop on Sunday, so that worked out for me. Well, discounting that I'd have liked to do both. Again, the $30 entrance fee is taken care of by flashing a senior pass belonging to someone else in the car. Then we're off to the Ryan Mountain Trailhead and setting up the shuttle. Then we're off! Almost. We have to jog over from the "Indian Cave" trail we actually end up starting down. We're a little eager. The trail to the "Indian Cave", which seems to be the rocks resting with a space between up ahead and not a cave....

Joshua Tree National Park Click for map. I decided to be social and signed up for some hikes going on as part of the Holiday Hooplah. This is an annual party put on by the Hundred Peaks Section of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club with hikes in and around Joshua Tree National Park. I've been to a bunch already, so am running out of new peaks to climb. (For more Sierra Club outings including these past Holiday Hooplahs, click the "Sierra Club" tag.) Today, I am up for Queen Mountain and Mount Inspiration in two separate hikes. I get to save the $30 entrance fee because I can sit in a car with someone with a senior pass. First is Queen Mountain, which is going to be a little bit further than usual because the roads were closed after the recent rains. Parking is at an interpretive turnout instead of the usual small loop of dirt at the end of a road. We can see Queen Mountain right away. It is a lot of flat and a deceptive amount of up. Of the two taller bu...

Joshua Tree National Park Back at Black Rock Campground, we are ready to start what was the main event for me. I have already collected one very reasonable but delisted peak and I was hoping to add a second. Bill, the leader, had been hoping to get it relisted so it is just another peak on the much more than Hundred Peaks list . Bill won and the peak is relisted. There are at least a couple more delisted peaks around for me to collect still. This was delisted for being a "long drive up", but that seems silly when we are about to hike up it entirely on trail from a spot a few minutes from the highway. There is a way to drive up, but there is certainly no requirement to go up that way. Setting off across the campground to find the actual trail. Stepping onto a segment of the California Riding and Hiking Trail, a long trail through California that never quite was.

Joshua Tree National Park We were left with most of the afternoon to get to camp and set up before the party would start around dark. That is more than enough and there was an offer to pop up Malapai Hill, so I jumped on it. This is a little bump in the middle of a plain the Geology Tour Road goes through and is strikingly different from the other little bumps in the area. It was pointed out to me when I did Bernard and Little Berdoo during a previous Holiday Hooplah and looked like a reasonable and easy thing to climb. We are warned that the footing can be iffy before heading off and told that there is supposed to be a benchmark on the lower peak as we arrive. Malapai Hill is a lump of small, dark rocks in the middle of a desert flat where most the lumps are large light rocks.

Joshua Tree National Park We finished our Arizona trip in time to stop by Joshua Tree National Park for the annual Holiday Hooplah put on by the Hundred Peaks Section . Of course, there are peaks to climb. I signed up for some lower peaks, which are on a different list and watched over by a different group, but then had to find another hike due to a leader getting injured. The only one on offer that I had not done was a little hike to Warren Point. This starts from the same location as the hike I signed up for for Sunday and the future will likely have both hikes combined into a single elaborate peak bagging extravaganza. For now, we gather at an easy hour on a mild day to start off into the desert. Starting off into the desert and the sun from the visitor center in Black Rock Campground. We are in Joshua Tree, so there are the requisite Joshua trees nearby.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. For the second day of the Holiday Hooplah, we again decide to go on the longer hike of the two choices. Bernard notices that the peak Bernard has a twin of sorts to the northwest that is actually slightly taller. Bernard also has a twin who is slightly taller, so it is decided that this second bump is Loren, for his twin and we must climb it, making our hike a little longer even before we begin. Our beginning is from the side of a lumpy path through the desert that requires high clearance and our hike starts up a wash again. This wash is a lot more open and easy to travel than the one yesterday and our much smaller group moves smoothly upward toward the peak, sometimes hitting the false peaks along the ridge. The station at the top of Bernard. There are also two reference marks of the same era. Photo by Bernard Mines.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Bernard and I decided to head down to Joshua Tree to get in some guided wandering by joining the Hundred Peaks Section for their Holiday Hooplah. There is a choice of hikes on each day and a campfire and potluck to bridge them. For Saturday, we chose to do the hike to Minerva Hoyt, named for a woman who was instrumental in getting these desert lands protected. This was advertised as a 10 mile hike and was the longer of the two choices. We arrive a bit earlier than most at the Quail Springs picnic area and gathering my gear includes remembering the camera is still on the coffee table. I do have a backup, but it has a very low battery. Eventually everyone is gathered and signed in and we head out, aiming at a wash across the desert flat. We seem to be on a trail at the start even though this hike is completely across country. Crossing the brief, sandy flat on use trail to climb the mountains beyond.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Finally, we stopped for another hike of not too great length. This loop started at Cottonwood Spring and wound around to Mastodon Mine by way of Mastodon Peak. We didn't quite see the mastodon in the peak, but we saw many other shapes in the rocks. This hike wasn't quite so hot as the one in the morning but is at a higher elevation. We headed out into the desert by way of Cottonwood spring. This is a spring with quite prominent, non-palm trees.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Along the road as the deserts change and the frequency of particular cacti changes, there is a little educational loop through a dense patch of cholla cactus. It turned out these were the delightfully wicked narrow spiny things I'd spotted at that first stop and thought were interesting enough to photograph with the Joshua trees. They didn't look very healthy at that first stop. A few at the second stop looked a little better. In the "garden", they looked very happy and healthy. The cholla cacti were very dense on the patch of land designated as the garden.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. For a morning hike, we went out to see an oasis full of actual desert oasis palm trees. I suppose someone counted them at one point, or at least the ones over a certain size, and found 49 to give the name. We started out maybe a little late, I think it was about 10AM already. It was hot! Hot, I tell you! So hot, the plants aren't green. Some cacti in the sun. I guess these little ones like to have neighbors, or maybe just lots of arms.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. After our hike, we went to Keys view, a popular spot for watching the sunset. This is just an overlook, there is no hike up. Out to the southeast, the Salton Sea is clearly visible. Some of our crew watching the sunset.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. After lunch, we rattled down the single lane dirt track to the Lost Horse Mine trailhead past the gate that closes at sunset. The trail winds upward along an old dirt track to the mine in about two miles and continues around in a somewhat longer loop if desired. Signs indicated a fire had been through the year before although we didn't see any natural signs of recent burn. Looking out over the desert to the distant mountains near the start of the trail.

Joshua Tree National Park Locate the trailhead. Hidden valley once served as a natural corral, according to the signs. The rocks completely surrounded the area and dynamite was used originally to open up a route to the inside. Now it is absolutely crawling with rock climbers. The inside serves as a nature trail with many informative signs telling much basic information about the flora and fauna of the area. There was even some information here and there about today's most prevalent fauna, the weekend rock climber.

A crew of folk, mostly international students, were going off to Joshua Tree to look about the place and I managed to go along with them. Once there, we quickly found a Joshua Tree to marvel at. Also some other plant life. A very large specimen of Joshua tree, which is some sort of yucca and not a tree at all.