Point 5041 - 1.21.2023
We parked at the unpaved parking lot located a quarter mile NE of the paved parking lot for the popular Barker Dam hike... 37 degrees to start... but the sun helps a lot.
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Heading for the Wall Street Mill.
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Passing by a vehicle that probably belonged to Worth Bagley or Bill Keys as we continue our hike to the Wall Street Mill... Queen Mountain is on the horizon.
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We can see the Wall Street Mill out there in the center of the photo.
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After hiking a total of .7 miles we have reached the Wall Street Mill... but we didn't see anyone trading stocks!
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Some history on the Wall Street Mill.
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Denali Girl and her antique car.
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From the parking lot we have been hiking along the SE border of the Wonderland of Rocks... now we have continued beyond the Wall Street Mill and are heading for the east border of the Wonderland of Rocks... where we will turn north and travel between the east border of the Wonderland of Rocks and the west border of Queen Mountain.
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I thought we were trying to avoid the Wonderland of Rocks today... but Denali Girl had a different idea.
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Working the rocks near the eastern border of the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Heading north near the eastern border of the Wonderland of Rocks... with Queen Mountain on the far right.
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Now trying to leave the Wonderland of Rocks... heading for the little passage out there in the middle of the photo.
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Well... not quite out of the Wonderland of Rocks just yet.
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Working our way out of the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Out of the Wonderland of Rocks now... heading north along the border that separates the Wonderland of Rocks and Queen Mountain... heading for the huge flat group of rocks out there in the distance on the right.
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A closeup... looking beyond the Wonderland of Rocks and Little San Bernardino Mountains to the snow covered Peaks of San Jacinto Peak on the left horizon and San Gorgonio Mountain on the right horizon.
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Continuing to hike north toward that massive set of rocks.
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Nearing that huge pile of rocks... I wasn't paying that much attention to our elevation... but I knew that if that was our destination we would not be reaching the summit.
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The other side of that massive pile of rocks was just as difficult as the front side of them... but that is not our destination.
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Okay... time to head for that big pile of rocks out there on the right.
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After hiking a total of 2.1 miles Denali Girl decided that she was going to watch me do the summit of Point 5041... and she took this photo of me hiking NE toward the summit... I didn't go straight toward it... the red line shows the general route that I took to get there.
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Gaining elevation toward Point 5041... here looking back down where Denali Girl is relaxing... every step higher offers a broader view of the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Continuing to gain elevation on my way up to Point 5041... not as difficult as it might seem.
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Time to get away from the brush for awhile.
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Continuing to gain elevation... but I am getting very close to the summit.
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Almost on the summit.
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After hiking a total of 2.4 miles I have reached the flatish summit of Point 5041... looking NE (left) and east (right) at the higher terrain of Queen Mountain.
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Denali Girl took this blown up photo of me on the summit of Point 5041.
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An incredible view of the Wonderland of Rocks from the summit of Point 5041.
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Just after taking the previous photo a gust of wind planted my hat 25 feet down this gully... and if it had gone down much further, I would have a new hat today!
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I found this bathtub on my way back up from retrieving my hat.
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I have left the summit and heading back down to retrieve Denali Girl.
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Heading down from the summit... a lot easier than it might appear.
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Almost back down to meet up with Denali Girl.
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Looking back up toward the summit of Point 5041.
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Denali Girl had great views from the place where she waited on my return.
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More or less tracing our steps back to the car.
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Tracing our steps back to the car... with Ryan Mountain on the horizon.
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Heading back to the car... but we have decided to avoid the Wonderland of Rocks on our return.
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Back on the desert floor now... and after hiking a total of 4.4 miles we have taken a brief stop at the Desert Queen Well... leaving a .4 mile hike to the car... with the total hike being 4.8 miles, gaining 859 feet of elevation.
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