Hiking in Joshua Tree

November 29, 2015

The Morning

It snowed in the higher elevations of Joshua tree last night! It is absolutely beautiful this morning, but much too cold to enjoy biking, especially with a fairly strong frigid wind. We scrapped that plan and spent the day hiking instead. It has made us both really happy we decided to rent a car for these three days of the trip.

So, if you just want to read about the bikes you can skip this and the next page (I split the day into two pages) and pick us up again tomorrow.

Today began with a great breakfast at the Crossroads Cafe here in Joshua Tree. We enjoyed it enough that I'm sure we'll be back there tomorrow morning also. Afterwards Rachael walked down the street to the bakery to stock up for the day, and I took a few street shots.

By 8:30 we were on our way into the park. A a reminder to you older readers, in case you didn't know already - for just $10, you can buy a lifetime pass that gives you free admission to all the national parks. One of the many advantages of being so old. For Rachael it's an especially good deal because she gets to tag along with me a no added cost. All gain, no pain.

Before hiking, we drove up to Keys View, one of the high points of the park, for a spectacular overlook of the San Bernadino Mountains and the Imperial Valley a verticle mile below. Very cold, quite windy, totally awesome. We are really fortunate to be seeing it like this, with the air very clear and great visibility.

A trace of fresh snow covered the ground in the higher elevations of the park.

The park's namesake. The stand of Joshua trees along Keys View Road is about the finest in the park.

Looking across Imperial Valley, from Keys View

From there we drove to the trailhead for the hike to Ryan Mountain, our outing for the morning. This is a fairly short hike, 3 to 4 miles round trip, but fairly strenuous as it climbs steadily to the summit at 5400'. It is quite cold when the trail is in the shadows, and very cold everywhere at the summit, where the winds must be blowing about 20mph. We stay just long enough to appreciate the stupendous view down into the middle of the park and then turn back, walking downhill into a steady, very cold headwind most of the way back to the car. Once there, we turn on the heater, pull out the map, and plan out the afternoon as we thaw out.

At the start of Ryan Mountain Trail. The huge granite boulders along this stretch of Park Avenue are a wonder, and by themselves make it worth visiting the park.

We took care with our footing on the snowy trail this morning.

The Afternoon

In the afternoon we took a more ambitious outing - the six or seven mile loop to the abandoned Lost Horse Mine. I could have wrapped this in with the morning's page I suppose, but there was so much to see and so many photos I felt like posting that I decided to split it off.

The hike was wonderful, even better than our morning hike up Ryan's Mountain. It is a loop walk, so you can hike it in either direction. We went counterclockwise, which meant that we did not arrive at the mine for well over four miles. It also meant that these first four miles were very quiet because most visitors go the other way, walk to the mine and turn back because it is a shorter and significantly easier walk.

For most of these first four miles we were completely alone in this beautiful wilderness, without another sole in sight. The route begins in a beautiful Joshua tree forest and then slowly gains elevation as it climbs and eventually crosses over a rugged, snow crusted ridge and opens up to awe inspiring views to the southern reaches of the park and beyond.

By midday the snow had melted or evaporated off most of the open ground, but it lasted throughout the day in the shaded areas.

A bulbous yucca - it looks a bit like the stipe of a boletus mushroom.

Along the crest of the ridge were occasional outcrops of colorful reddish gneiss.

This and a rusty box spring are about all that remains of this former home.

Gneiss outcrop, on the hike to Lost Horse Mine

Crossing the ridge, we were rewarded with a spectacular view across Pinto Basin.

Once over the top we soon started dropping along the eastern face of the ridge, where the trail was often in the shade and the ground still covered by a thin layer of snow. and We were isolated enough that toward the end of this stretch we began feeling concerned that we had missed a turn somewhere and were wandering off course, especially because this part of the trail is rather poorly marked. It was with some relief when we arrived at the mine and encountered a steady stream of walkers.

Still a bit snowy on the protected face of the ridge

Cold again, on the descent to Lost Horse Mine

The gold mine is quite well preserved and interesting, but the hike itself is what made this a very special outing. After a few minutes poking around its ruins we were happy to return to the trail for the last cold downhill miles to the trailhead, and even happier when we found ourselves sitting once again In the Crossroads Cafe, eagerly awaiting a meal and beverage.

With legs like these we should make good time walking back to the car.

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