Oz - 1.21.2020
From the north entrance pay station of Joshua Tree National Park we drove 3 miles along Park Blvd and parked in a paved pullout next to the road.
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Hiking west from where we parked... Point 4243 is the high point in the left-center of the photo... we will be hiking toward the gap in the center of the photo.
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After hiking ~1.5 miles we will leave the desert floor and start scrambling south up this drainage... contouring our way around the south side of Point 4243.
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Star Dancer (our guide) leads the way as we work our way around Point 4243.
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Here comes Denali Girl and Golden Eagle as we contour around Point 4243.
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Find Golden Eagle if you can.
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Star Dancer and Golden Eagle work there way between some monster boulders as we continue to contour around Point 4243.
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Denali Girl deals with the rocks.
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Looking up at the west side of Point 4243... Star Dancer calls it The Temple.
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Point 4243 in the left foreground... as we continue to contour around it.
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Star Dancer points at Point 4243 (aka The Temple)... Oz is starting to appear out there on the far right.
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Welcome to Oz.
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Amazing boulders!
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Denali Girl arrives at Oz.
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Incredible rocks in Oz.
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Oz in the left foreground... looking east to Twentynine Palms Mountain and the Pinto Mountains from our spot in Oz.
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Leaving Oz.
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Leaving Oz and heading for a ridge south of Oz.
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Looking back at Oz and the east shoulder of Point 4243 as we continue to the ridge south of Oz.
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Denali Girl and Golden Eagle take a break on the ridge.
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Broad views from our ridge.
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Looking out to Point 4243 and Oz from near our high point on the ridge.
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We weren't the first people to be on this ridge.
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Star Dancer near our high point on the ridge.
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That is the high point (~4280') on our ridge... but something a bit lower caught our attention.
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We decided to give up a little elevation and drop down to what looked like a little village.
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Checking out the little village.
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A huge pinyon pine at the little village.
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We have left the little village and are now continuing north along the ridge.
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Coming down from the ridge and looking for a good route back down to the wash we used to gain access to Oz.
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There is the wash... but we still have a little work left to get there.
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Denali Girl and Golden Eagle are almost at the wash.
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Back in the wash... now just follow it back to the car.
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Passing by the drainage that we used earlier in the day... closing the loop portion of our hike... still have 1.5 miles of easy walking to get to our car.
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Only a stone's throw is left to reach our car... our trip was 5.3 miles, gaining 1230 feet of elevation.
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