Joshua Tree National Park (11-05-13)

 The Hikes

So, in between relaxing in the hot tub, and doing laundry, we’ve gone to Joshua Tree National Park to do some hiking.  The first trail that we picked to hike is closed due to flash floods back in September. 

  We asked the Ranger’s opinion on another trail to hike, and she suggested Coyote Mine.  Well, anytime you say “mine” , sign Paul up!  We got directions and headed out on the “trail”. Unfortunately, the directions were terrible and the trail is unmarked.  We wandered around looking for this mine for a while.  We did come upon some great views along the way!

It’s not unheard of to have unmarked trails in the desert.  We had two GPS’s with us so we weren’t worried about finding our way back home.  We finally found “the mine”.  There were just a few timbers left, and some tailings. No other signs of activity. 

So, we left and headed back to the truck.  We took a different route, and hadn’t realized how high up we were from the valley until we came across this area.  We had the choice of picking our way down the boulders or turning around.

We slowly picked our way through the boulders down the hill, and made it back to the truck. 

Paul did some research and found a trail he wanted to try- to another mine- no surprise there!  We took Split Rock Trail to Eagle Cliff Mine. Split Rock trail was pretty neat- full of the huge boulders that make up Joshua Tree National Park.

Once again we had to hike up a pile of rocks to get to the ridge.  We couldn’t find an actual trail on the way up, although on the way down, we found it.  We know there is a miner’s cabin atop this ridge, and we thought we had decent directions to find it.  Wrong again!

  After reaching the ridge and searching for the cabin, we came across two women who were also searching.  They had the guide book with them so the four of us teamed up.  I couldn’t believe that the directions in the book said something like “ Go to the right of the big boulder, and turn left at the three slanted rocks.” Really?  Look at this picture. There’s nothing BUT boulders.  Which “big boulder??”

The “cabin” is built into the side of some boulders, and the entrance is hidden by a large tree.  If you look in this picture, you can see one of the women we were with.

The cabin was really cool-it has been left just as it was when it was occupied, over 100 years ago.  I am guessing they make it hard to find so it doesn’t get vandalized.

 

Anyway, it was a pretty cool destination, and the whole hike was only about 4 miles.

As our map indicates, we have now moved on from Indio and are staying near our daughter, just outside of Los Angeles, right on the beach (and the flight path for LAX!).