Mount Mel - 2.27.2019
From Hwy 62 near the town of Twentynine Palms... turn onto Indian Cove Road and drive 1.5 miles to the Boy Scout Trailhead.
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Hiking the Boy Scout Trail... in this photo the trail is heading directly for the pile of boulders known as Point 3814 (aka Mount Mel).
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Still on the Boy Scout Trail... getting closer to Mount Mel in the center of the photo.
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Looking back at Yucca Valley and the town of Twentynine Palms as we continue on the Boy Scout Trail.
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Starting to gain a little more elevation on the BST.
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At ~3200 feet (after hiking ~2 miles) we left the Boy Scout Trail and started working our way up toward Mount Mel.
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rocman working some of the rugged terrain on the way to the base of Mount Mel.
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Still gaining elevation on our way to Mount Mel.
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Boulders, boulders and more boulders.
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Getting closer, but the terrain stays the same.
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What I said about the last photo.
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Denali Girl and rocman start the final push up to the summit.
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It will be challenging.
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Large boulders to deal with on the last 200 feet of elevation gain to the summit.
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rocman looks for the best route.
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Denali Girl decides to head back down... kind of hard to disagree with that decision.
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Continuing on up for the summit.
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rocman tops out on Mount Mel (3814').
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Denali Girl took this photo of rocman and me on the summit of Mount Mel.
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rocman on the summit of Mount Mel... looking east toward the Indian Cove Campground.
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A pano shot from the summit of Mount Mel... looking north into Yucca Valley... Twentynine Palms Mountain on the far right horizon.
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The summit register we found was placed in 1996.
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Time to head back down to where Denali Girl is waiting for us.
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A fairly easy Class 2 move at the summit.
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We took a slightly easier route going down.
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Denali Girl got this photo of us coming down.
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rocman is almost down to some flat ground.
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Off of the boulders and time to exhale.
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We had used the Boy Scout Trail to approach the west side of Mount Mel... now we will return via a route on the east side of the mountain... allowing for a circumnavigation of the mountain.
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There is no trail on the east side of Mount Mel.
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Looking up at Mount Mel on the right as we continue down the east side of the Mountain.
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There is no way to escape from the boulders.
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Finally we can see the valley below... but there is still plenty of work to do.
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Working the boulders.
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Slow progress in the boulders.
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Will we ever get out these boulders?
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Almost down to the desert floor.
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Just a few more steps down to the wash.
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Looking back at Mount Mel on the right... we came down the canyon on the left.
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We have reconnected with the Boy Scout Trail... a mile of hiking will get us back to the car... our hike was a total of 4.7 miles, gaining 1000 feet of elevation.
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