Once we reached flat ground, we powered through the remaining seven miles back to the car in two hours, arriving only one hour after sunset. It took took us over three hours to descend the first two miles and 1,150 vertical feet. For awhile, we were trapped between two high ridges, unable to find our way off the slope until we found a viable route. We climbed down via a particularly (and unnecessarily difficult) route, and the difficult boulder scramble slowed us to a speed of nearly a half-mile per hour. But, as we began descending the mountain, we quickly realized that the most challenging section of our trip was yet to come. In the morning, the hike up the mountain was so challenging that it took us over four hours to complete the four-mile, 1,800-foot vertical ascent to the peak - but we made it. After eight tiring miles, we decided to call it quits for the day. I planned for us to make it at least to the top of Queen Mountain on our first day, but route-finding after Willow Hole quickly became difficult, requiring us to walk over and around miles of enormous granite monoliths. Because there are no trails through the Wonderland - with the notable exception of a short trail to Willow Hole from the Park road - I plotted a backcountry hike, using topo maps, that would take us past Willow Hole, up to the top of Queen Mountain from the north, and then down the mountain’s west side, looping back to the trailhead.Įven with our extensive backcountry experience, the short, two-day backpack was a surprising challenge. So, when my brother came to visit me in Los Angeles In October 2015, we decided to try to change my Joshua Tree legacy by taking a weekend hike through the Wonderland of Rocks, a 12-square-mile maze of massive, granite rock formations in northern Joshua Tree. Believe me, I know: in 2007, I got lost with my friends searching for Aqua Peak in the Coxcomb Mountains, and, in 2010, the sun set while my friends and I were climbing up a rocky canyon still searching for the last of eight Park oases. The Park’s sparse vegetation, expansive desert flats, and manageable mountain ranges invite what looks to be easy backcountry hiking. OSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, California - Joshua Tree National Park is deceptive.

Joshua tree gps tracks