Crown Prince and Point 4558 - 12.2.2025
We parked one-tenth of a mile west of the entrance to the very popular Jumbo Rocks Campground in Joshua Tree National Park... here hiking SE from where we parked. That is Queen Mountain behind us on the horizon.
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Heading for Crown Prince on the right... then we will come down from Crown Prince and go over to Point 4558 on the far left.
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Getting closer to Crown Prince... pretty sure we won't be going up to the summit from this end of Crown Prince.
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Working our way around to the north side of Crown Prince.
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Looking back where we came from as we work our way around the north side of Crown Prince... with Queen Mountain on the horizon way out there.
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On the northern side of Crown Prince Denali Girl has found the 30 foot scramble to get up higher... this is the crux area of the hike to Crown Prince.
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Denali Girl took this photo of me, Stalker and photoman as we ascend the 30 foot scramble area.
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photoman is coming up the scramble area.
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We are done with the scramble area... here looking over at Point 4558 which we will do after we finish on Crown Prince.
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Crown Prince was a warning station for World War II airplanes and was destroyed in the 1960's... here looking west to Ryan Mountain on the far left horizon... and north to Queen Mountain on the right-center horizon.
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On the 4,581 foot summit of Crown Prince... here looking SE toward Pinto Basin way down there in the left-center of the photo... and looking south to the Hexie Mountains in the foreground in the right-center of the photo... and we will be heading over to Point 4558 in the far left foreground.
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Leaving Crown Prince... going down the 30 foot scramble that got us up to the summit area.
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photoman and Denali Girl look like they are going up... but they are actually coming down.
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Off of Crown Prince and hiking SE for a very short distance before heading NE toward Point 4558.
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Looking back at Crown Prince as we head for Point 4558.
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Now hiking NE toward Point 4558... and we will go up to the plateau area on the far right section of Point 4558.
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I'm almost up to the plateau section of Point 4558... here looking down at Denali Girl and Stalker as they come up to join me... and looking across the valley to Crown Prince.
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We have reached the plateau section of Point 4558... located on the south end of the point... here looking up at the summit area... and we will scramble up the boulders and angle over toward the far right to get up to the summit.
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I have scrambled up very close to the summit of Point 4558... here looking down at the plateau area as photoman and Denali Girl work their way up the boulders to join me... as Stalker and Star Dancer decide to stay down on the plateau and wait for us to come back down to join them.
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Denali Girl and photoman are getting ready to join me near the summit of Point 4558.
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A labyrinth at the summit of Point 4558... here looking north beyond the popular Jumbo Rocks Campground to Queen Mountain on the horizon.
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Denali Girl took this photo of me at the labyrnith... I think she was definitely interested in the sky.
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The summit area of Point 4558 is huge... Denali Girl is in the photo on the right... with Ryan Mountain on the far left horizon and Queen Mountain on the middle horizon.
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Denali Girl took this photo from the Point 4558 summit area... looking down at the desert floor there is another labyrinth at the very bottom of the photo.
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Looking over at Crown Prince from the summit area of Point 4558.
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Getting ready to leave the summit area of Point 4558 and scramble back down to the plateau area in the far right foreground... with the Pinto Mountains on the left horizon... with the Hexie Mountains in the right foreground... and part of the Little San Bernardino Mountains on the far-right horizon.
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Watching photoman head back down to the plateau area of Point 4558.
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Denali Girl works her way down from the summit of Point 4558.
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From the plateau area of Point 4558 we are heading down the east side of the point... while photoman, Denali Girl and I were up exploring the summit area, Stalker found this route to get back down to the desert floor from the plateau area.
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We have hiked around the east side of Point 4558... here looking back at the north end of Point 4558.
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I'm going to head up to Point 4500+.... located a short distance north of Point 4558.
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I have reached Point 4500+ and I'm looking over at Point 4558 in the foreground... with Crown Prince in the distance on the right.
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Looking north to Queen Mountain on the horizon... and getting ready to go down from Point 4500+.
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Heading down from Point 4500+ and heading for that huge area of smooth rock in the distance.
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photoman is getting ready to get onto the smooth rock.
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Hiking NW on the smooth rock... here I am watching the others come along to join me... and that is Point 4558 on the center horizon... with Point 4500+ on the far left horizon.
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Hiking NW through beautiful terrain... heading for our cars.
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I had to take this photo... as we continue heading back to our cars.
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Working our way back to our cars.
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Our cars are a stone's throw away... the total hike was 3.3 miles, gaining 600 feet of elevation.
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