Shangri-la in the Wonderland of Rocks - 1.23.2019
From the west entrance pay station at Joshua Tree National Park we drove 6.5 miles on Park Blvd and parked at the trailhead for the Boy Scout Trail... this is a huge parking lot.
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The trail is obvious... not sure why this sign isn't located right at the trailhead, but it is a tenth of a mile down the trail... we will follow the BST 1.2 miles from here and take the Willow Hole Trail.
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Hiking on the Boy Scout Trail... here looking back toward the parking area... Quail Mountain (the high point in the park) is on the far right horizon.
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The Boy Scout Trail follows along the west boundary of the Wonderland of Rocks.
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We have hiked ~1.3 miles from the BST trailhead and will take the trail toward Willow Hole.
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On the Willow Hole Trail... here passing by a pile of rocks referred to as Outer Mongolia... a popular sport climbing area.
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Still on the Willow Hole Trail... looking for the right place to head cross-country.
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After hiking on the Willow Hole Trail for ~1.5 miles we headed east toward a wash... I knew the wash we were interested in by looking at the area on Google Earth and then setting waypoints of interest on my Gaia GPS track for the area.
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Continuing east down the wash.
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Continuing east down the wash of interest.
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The sign says to not go down this wash... and that makes a lot of sense if a person was going to Willow Hole... but for us it is time to head south down this wash.
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Continuing south in our wash of choice.
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Continuing south in our wash of choice... this wash will kind of reach a dead end very soon and cause us to do a little scrambling to reach our next wash.
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Scrambling above the wash below... looking for the next wash... Denali Girl is in the lower left corner of the photo.
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Denali Girl has scrambled up from the first wash.
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Sure enough, we have reached our second wash... still trending southward.
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The wash is very broad here.
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The wash has narrowed some... and looks like it might dead end just ahead.
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Scrambling up some boulders... looking for the next wash.
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Still working the boulders... looking for the next wash.
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Ah yes... our third wash... kind of looks like a sand bar here.
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Time to leave our third wash and do some more scrambling up to the gap on the right.
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These boulders look very manageable.
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I'm looking back... watching Denali Girl work the boulders.
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Ta-da... our fourth wash.
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Awesome rock formations in our fourth wash.
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Many years ago I think people (Anagazi perhaps) lived in the shaded area here.
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We have left our fourth wash and are trending west toward Shangri-la.
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Gaining elevation from our fourth wash... looking for Shangri-la.
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In search of Shangri-la.
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Denali Girl coming up to Shangri-la.
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Looking down to and out to Shangri-la... in March, 2018, we visited this place... so it isn't totally new to us.
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A rock with a hole.
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Working our way down to the floor of Shangri-la.
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Denali Girl is almost on the floor of Shangri-la.
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Almost on the floor of Shangri-la... now it is time to find a good place to exit.
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Chuparosa in Shangri-la.
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Looking back at our route through Shangri-la.
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We will exit Shangri-la via the gap on the far right.
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Like most gaps in the Wonderland of Rocks... some scrambling is required.
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Scrambling in the Wonderland of Rocks... we have exited Shangri-la and are heading south toward Keys Ranch.
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Heading for the pond that sits above Keys Ranch.
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There are two dams at the pond... otherwise there wouldn't be any water here.
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We can see Keys Ranch in the distance.
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Scrambling more boulders as we exit the Keys Ranch area.
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Working boulders as we exit the Keys Ranch area.
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Heading for the gap above.
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Almost back to the desert floor.
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Out of the Wonderland of Rocks and back on the desert floor... slightly more than a mile to get back to the car.
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We can see the parking lot... our loop trip was 6.5 miles, gaining 640 feet of elevation.
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