Queen Mountain Exploration - 1.13.2024
We parked at the trailhead for Queen Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park... Star Dancer, Denali Girl and Crazy Horse are leaving the parking lot... we will head for the pass on the horizon above the ladies... the Queen Mountain summit is on the horizon in the right center of the photo.
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After hiking a half-mile we will leave the main trail and follow a nice path up to the pass on the horizon.
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After hiking a little over one mile we have reached the pass... where we will head over to the pass on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Leaving the first shelf that we reached at the pass... now heading up another 60 feet of elevation to another shelf.
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After hiking a total of 1.5 miles we have reached the second shelf... and will be hiking on it to the north.
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After hiking a total of 1.9 miles we can see the place up there in the foreground where a person would turn to the left and do an easy scramble up to Tanzbodeli.
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After hiking a total of 2.3 miles I am looking up at the rock formation on the left that I crossed over several years ago to get from Tanzbodeli to where I am standing today.
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After hiking a total of 2.4 miles we will leave the wash we have been in for approximately one mile and find another wash a stone's throw to the east.
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Hiking east now.
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Continuing to hike east... and we will gain ~60 feet of elevation up to another shelf.
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Heading east and gaining a little elevation.
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We have found our third shelf... and the Queen Mountain summit is up there on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Hiking north again... and after hiking a total of 3 miles we decided to go over and explore what looked like a huge cave.
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Crazy Horse got to the cave first and stood at the back of the cave while I took this photo.
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Star Dancer and Denali Girl found this nice ramp that helped them reach the cave.
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I took this photo from the back of the cave.
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We have left the cave and are hiking NW in search of another shelf.
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After hiking a total of 3.3 miles we have found another shelf and will start following it to the west.
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Still hiking west... where the shelf started to narrow seriously after hiking a total of 3.8 miles.
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Crazy Horse explores a lot of very smooth boulders as we continue to hike to the west... out there on the horizon in the middle of the photo sits San Gorgonio Mountain... at 11,503 feet it is the high point in Southern California.
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Still working our way down the smooth boulders. We think we could continue to reach the shelf below, but decided to leave that for another day.
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We traced our steps back for a total of a quarter mile and then started hiking on a new path heading east where we found an amazing amphitheater.
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We have left the amphitheater and are hiking SE as we try to close the loop portion of our hike.
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Continuing to hike SE in amazing terrain... heading for the gap in the right center of the photo.
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Continuing to hike to the SE... heading for the gap in the distance.
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After hiking a total of 4.8 miles we have closed the loop portion of our hike... and we can see the Queen Mountain summit out there on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Tracing our steps back to the car now as we have returned to the spot where I got here several years ago after coming from Tanzbodeli over the terrain on the left.
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Tracing our steps back to the car.
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After hiking a total of 6.2 miles we have returned to where we can look down on the first shelf that we found earlier in the day... with a distant view of part of Queen Valley.
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After hiking a total of 7 miles we have reached that big pile of black rocks that we found earlier in the day... another half-mile will get us back to our cars... the total hike was 7.5 miles, gaining 793 feet of elevation.
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