Tanzbodeli - 11.10.2025
At 4,472 feet we parked at the northern end of O'Dell Road in Joshua Tree National Park. Queen Mountain covers more than 12 square miles... the 5,680 foot summit is out there on the right-center horizon of the photo... we will be heading for the 'V' on the far left horizon which will take us up onto the west shoulder of the mountain.
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After hiking a total of a half mile we turn left at big pile of black boulders and take a less traveled trail... heading for the low point up there on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Heading for the 'V' up there in the middle of the photo... with an airplane and the moon up in the sky.
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Getting closer to the 'V' on the horizon.
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After hiking a total of 1.1 miles we have reached a fairly good sized bench at 4,800 feet... and we will be heading for the 'V' over there on the horizon in the middle of the photo.
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Hiking across the bench and heading for the 'V'.
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Leaving the bench and heading up to the 'V'... and it looks like the moon is waiting on us to get there.
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After hiking a total of 1.5 miles we have reached a wide wash on the west side of Queen Mountain... now hiking north in the wide wash.
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After hiking a total of 2 miles we are getting ready to leave the wide wash and scramble up to the left side of the two rock formations on the horizon.
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A closer look at the two rock formations in the previous photo.
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Working our way up to Tanzbodeli.
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Working our way up to Tanzbodeli.
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Star Dancer and Denali Girl have reached what I call the 'Tanzbodeli Highway' and they are heading west for a broad view of Tanzbodeli.
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Looking east back down Tanzbodeli Highway to more of Queen Mountain... but we still can't see the true summit of the mountain.
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Looking across the Tanzbodeli floor... we will be heading for the top of the second bump from the left. We are looking west... and the San Bernordino Mountains are on the horizon... with 11,501 foot San Gorgonio Mountain on the left horizon.
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Dropping down onto the Tanzbodeli floor... and heading for the high point in the left-center of the photo.
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Star Dancer is heading for the Tanzbodeli high point.
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Looking through a passage in Tanzbodeli... with San Gorgonio Mountain on the horizon.
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Looking back as Denali Girl comes over to join us... we still can't see the summit of Queen Mountain... giving an idea of how big the mountain is.
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Star Dancer nears the high point of Tanzbodeli.
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Star Dancer relaxes just before touching the high point.
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Denali Girl relaxes on the 4,862 foot summit of Tanzbodeli.
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Looking back to the south... we had come in via a wide wash that came through the rocks in the left-center of the photo.
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Heading back to our car... more or less tracing our steps back from the way we came in.
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On the Tanzbodeli floor heading back the way we came in.
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On the Tanzbodeli floor heading back the way we came in... the desert color was incredible on this hike.
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Looking back as Star Dancer and Denali Girl come over to join me at the entrance to Tanzbodeli.
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Heading back down to the wide wash from Tanzbodeli.
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Almost back down to the wide wash.
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In the wide wash and tracing our steps back to the car.
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Heading back down to that big bench we reached earlier in the day.
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In the big bench tracing our steps back to the car.
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Going to lose 350 feet of elevation on the way down to the huge Queen Valley.
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Back at that huge pile of black boulders that we passed earlier... leaving a half-mile hike to get back to our car.
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We can see our car a third of a mile out there... the total hike was 5 miles, gaining 676 feet of elevation.
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