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| Hiking | 2.51 Miles |
3,777 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.51 Miles | 2 Hrs 4 Mns | | 1.45 mph |
| 3,777 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | My wife's cousin is an accounting professor who is in town on sabbatical and with an RV. On a relatively spur-of-the-moment plan, we decided to visit Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend.
Found a spot to overnight with the RV in Twenty-Nine Palms on Thursday and Friday nights.
Arrived late Thursday night; got up Friday and headed into the park via the Oasis Visitor Center side and drove over to Hidden Valley for our first stop of the day.
We tried to do some of the more popular spots on Friday, figuring it would be busier on Saturday (it was).
Hidden Valley is a great little hike/explore an nice intro to the other thing for which the park is famous besides Joshua Trees--i.e., ROCKS! 
After enjoying the loop, we bit on one of the suggestions circulating on the internet about doing the "Chasm of Doom," which is basically a meander/scramble through various passages in the rock formation off to the side of the Hidden Valley loop.
It was actually a lot of fun. Many recommend a headlamp, though I don't think its strictly necessary. There is some scrambling and a spot or two where some minor chimney-ing is required. The most claustrophobic part has been dubbed the "Coffin," and involves a 7-8 foot vertical scoot between two rock slabs lying flat on your back. I didn't recognize the spot at first, but after looking around for some alternate path forward, I realized that we had arrived at the Coffin. Had I not had knowledge that it was possible to make it through, I probably wouldn't have tried it. That said, I didn't find it as scary as some, though my wife and her cousin were happy to let me go "first." 
All in all, the Chasm was a highlight, and all agreed it was a good adventure that pushed beyond the comfort zone, but not too crazy. I'd recommend it. |
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