Hidden Valley Loop - 4.1.2023
We parked at the very popular Hidden Valley Trailhead in Joshua Tree National Park.
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After hiking a tenth of a mile we have entered Hidden Valley and are standing where the one mile loop trail begins... a person can go either to the left or to the right here... and we will go counter clockwise to the right.
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We are hiking counter clockwise on the Hidden Valley Loop trail.
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The Great Burrito is the large rock formation on the right... and we will leave the loop trail here and head toward the gap out there on the left.
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Left to right... Dave, Star Dancer, Mary and Denali Girl are leaving the popular loop trail and hiking over to join me at the gap from the previous photo.
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Leaving the popular loop trail we will need to do a little scrambling to get into the much less traveled section of Hidden Valley.
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There is also a bit of brush to deal with in getting to the less traveled section of Hidden Valley.
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Denali Girl is doing very well in scrambling with her elbow that was operated on one month ago.
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We needed to make ourselves small to get through this slot.
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After hiking a total of .4 miles we have entered the much less traveled section of Hidden Valley.
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Hiking NW in the much less traveled section of Hidden Valley.
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After hiking a total of .7 miles we decided to hike SW into another section of Hidden Valley and loop our way back to the popular Hidden Valley... we were also watching 5 rock climbers in the distance (one of them is in the upper left corner of the photo).
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Not a very good closeup of the climbers... but you can see one of them on top.
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Still in the less traveled section of Hidden Valley... but now hiking back to the popular loop trail in Hidden Valley.
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Getting closer to the popular loop trail in Hidden Valley.
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Now we can see some of the rock formations in the popular section of Hidden Valley.
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After hiking a total of one mile we are getting ready to step onto the popular loop trail... here I am looking back into the much less traveled section of Hidden Valley.
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We have rejoined the popular loop trail in Hidden Valley... we will go to the right and hike counter clockwise to finish the loop.
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Almost getting ready to finish the popular loop trail in Hidden Valley.
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We have finished hiking in Hidden Valley and the parking lot is a stone's throw away... the total hike was 1.6 miles, gaining 162 feet of elevation.
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