Wonderland of Rocks - 3.12.2024
We parked in the unpaved parking lot located a quarter-mile NE of the popular paved parking lot for Barker Dam... it is the trailhead for the Wall Street Mill.
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After hiking less than a tenth of a mile we turned left on an unsigned trail... the trail going to the right goes on out to the Wall Street Mill.
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After hiking a quarter of a mile we have reached the Worth Bagley Homestead... also known as the 'Pink House'... we will enter the Wonderland of Rocks behind the homestead.
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Hiking north in the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Denali Girl's wilderness kitchen in the wonderland.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks... and we can see 'Shark Rock' out there on the right.
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A closer look at the 'Shark Rock'.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks... we can see the South Astro Dome and North Astro Dome on the left horizon... with 'The Camel' in the middle-horizon... and Queen Mountain on the far right horizon.
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Looking back where we came from in the middle of the photo.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks... passing by the two astro domes.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks... taking a break... with the two astro domes on the far left... with 'The Camel' in the right-center of the photo.
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Continuing to hike north in the Wonderland of Rocks... with the 'Freak Brothers' rock formation in the right foreground.
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Denali Girl poses in front of 'The Camel'.
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After hiking a total of 1.4 miles we decided to take a lunch break below 'The Camel'.
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Looking east from our lunch spot... with Queen Mountain on the horizon in the middle of the photo... and the 'Freak Brothers' in the far right foreground.
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We have left the lunch spot and are tracing our steps back to the car... but first we are going to scramble up that rock pile in the middle of the photo... with the South Astro Dome and North Astro Dome on the right.
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Denali Girl and BarbE lead the way up that rock pile in the previous photo.
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Working our way up that rock pile.
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Now I'm out front on the rock pile... looking back as the others come over to join me... with 'The Camel' on the far left horizon... and the 'Freak Brothers' in the center horizon.
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Denali Girl stopped scrambling and took this photo of the rest of us going up.
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BarbE decided to come back down and join Denali Girl... while rocman, me and tomman are up above discussing how to deal with what turned out to be the crux of the scramble.
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rocman begins to ascend the short crux section of the scramble.
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rocman is ascending the crux section of the scramble... heading for the nice ramp going left to right just above him... and that is the 'Freak Brothers' rock formation on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Denali Girl took this photo of rocman at the top of the crux getting ready to walk up the ramp... with tomman and me watching him.
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rocman is walking up the convenient ramp.
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Denali Girl took this photo of me at the top of the crux... with rocman higher up on the false summit.
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From the top of the crux move I'm shooting tomman walking up the convenient ramp.
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Heading up to join rocman on the false summit.
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Looking back down at Denali Girl and BarbE near the bottom of the photo... with 'The Camel' dominating the photo.
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tomman and rocman on the false summit... with the true summit a few feet higher in the right foreground... I'm going to explore the area that separates them from the actual summit and see if I can find an easy way up to the top.
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I have found a good route up to the summit... and I'm watching them leave the false summit to come up and join me.
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I'm watching tomman and rocman working their way up to join me on the summit... with the South Astro Dome (left) and North Astro Dome on the horizon.
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A pano shot from our summit.
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Heading down from the summit... when rocman gets around that boulder he will enter the little gully that separates the false summit from the true summit.
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Working the area between the false summit and true summit.
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Back at the false summit area... heading back down to join the ladies below.
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Denali Girl took this photo of us coming down and nearing the crux area of the scramble.
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rocman is showing us how to down climb the crux area of the scramble.
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We are almost back down to the desert floor after a challenging scramble.
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This is a photo of the rock pile we scrambled up... it seems like there are other ways to get up there... but we did not explore them.
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Hiking south in the Wonderland of Rocks... more or less tracing our steps back to the car.
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Hiking back to the car... this side of 'Shark Rock' looks more like an eagle... or something else.
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We have returned to the 'Pink House'... leaving a quarter-mile hike to get back to the car... the total hike/scramble was 3.1 miles, gaining 183 feet of elevation.
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