Wonderland of Rocks - 3.1.2022
We parked at the dirt parking lot for the Wall Street Mill in Joshua Tree National Park... located a quarter mile NE of the paved parking lot for Barker Dam.
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After hiking less than a tenth of a mile the trail splits... the branch to the right goes out to the Wall Street Mill... but we will take the branch to the left that will take us out to the Wonderland Ranch... and later in the day we will close the loop portion of our hike by returning via the branch on the right.
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After hiking two tenths of a mile we have arrived at the Wonderland Ranch... also know as the Pink House... and the Worth Bagley Homestead.
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After hiking beyond the Wonderland Ranch the Wonderland Wash narrows for a bit.
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After hiking less than a half-mile we can see 'The Shark' in the distance.
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Shortly after passing by 'The Shark' the wonderland opens up... with the Astro Dome on the far left and 'The Camel' on the far right.
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A close up of the 'Astro Dome'... actually there are two Astro Domes... with the south dome on the left and the north dome on the right.
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After hiking a total of 1.4 miles Denali Girl, Nanda and Anna Purna are standing near 'The Camel'.
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We had been hiking north to reach 'The Camel'... and that is where we began hiking east toward the 'Red Obelisk' in the center of the photo... with Queen Mountain on the horizon.
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After hiking a total of 1.5 miles we have reached the 'Red Obelisk'.
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Looking back at the 'Red Obelisk' as we continue hiking east in the wonderland.
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A few petroglyphs along the way.
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After hiking a total of 1.9 miles it is time to start hiking to the south and find a route out of the wonderland.
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Hiking south now... looking over at the Astro Dome in the distance on the right... looks like we could get over there fairly easily... but lets keep hiking south and explore some new territory for us.
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Hiking south in the Wonderland of Rocks... fingers crossed on being able to find a route.
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Looking back at our route into this little canyon... or is it a little wash?
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In addition to some bushwhacking, there was also some crawling involved in our route out of the wonderland.
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Did I mention that there was some bushwhacking involved in our route out of the wonderland.
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Continuing to hike south out of the Wonderland of Rocks... in search of the Great Wide Open.
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Time to prepare for more bushwhacking as we contine to hike south out of the wonderland.
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After hiking a total of 2.8 miles we are out of the Wonderland of Rocks and have reached the Wall Street Mill... notice the line of rocks in the wash... kind of suggesting that people not enter the wash that we just came out of.
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The Wall Street Mill... back in the day it was a gold ore crushing mill featuring late-19th century two-stamp mill machinery.
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We are almost back to the parking lot... but Nanda wanted to check out the truck that she left here a couple of years ago.
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We have returned to our car after hiking a total of 3.5 miles that gained 182 feet of elevation... which also included 182 scratches on my arms and legs!
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