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| | | Lost Palms Oasis Mastodon Peak Loop, CA | | | |
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Lost Palms Oasis Mastodon Peak Loop, CA
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| Hiking | 9.36 Miles |
1,374 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.36 Miles | 4 Hrs 57 Mns | | 2.26 mph |
| 1,374 ft AEG | 48 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | On our last day in Joshua Tree, we drove to Cottonwood Campground for a hike to Lost Palms Oasis, with a stop at Mastodon Peak on the way back. The trail starts near Cottonwood Oasis, a tight cluster of palm trees next to the parking lot, and the area just across the trail from the oasis is closed due to the presence of heavy metals like arsenic and lead in the soil. Early on, there are two Cahuilla bedrock mortars in some rocks, and a sign nearby highlights how efficiently the Cahuilla tribe lived off the land.
The trail starts with a gradual uphill and leads southeast, with a lot of classic Joshua Tree boulder piles and views of the Salton Sea. Around three miles in, the upper oasis, Dike Spring, comes into view first, and there's a sign that says, "No Trail Beyond This Point, Proceed At Your Own Risk." There's a short, steep unofficial trail down to the wash where Lost Palms Oasis is located. We had the oasis to ourselves and took a break in the shade of the palm trees. It's a beautiful, relaxing spot, with the sounds of the birds and the wind through the palm trees.
[ youtube video ]
I'd noticed Victory Palms on the map and wanted to check that out. It's ~0.7 miles past Lost Palms, and when I first hiked here in 2019, I didn't get a chance to see it, so we hiked down the wash in that direction. It started out easy, but a half mile from Victory Palms, we ran into some large boulders in the wash and a 15-20 foot drop. There were plenty of footprints down below, and it looked like the best way down would be scrambling down the right side, but we ended up turning around there...it was going to take too much time on a day when we still needed to drive back to Phoenix. There's a certain irony in failing to reach a spot with victory in the name, but I guess it's another reason for a return visit someday...and it looks like fun to climb up to the upper oasis.
On the hike out, the trail was crowded--we passed at least 20 people hiking in toward Lost Palms, and we were lucky we had it to ourselves when we were there. We turned right to take Mastodon Peak Loop on the hike out, and we followed the short, unmaintained spur up to the peak, which was full of people, and even a dog someone was walking/carrying up there. With the crowds at the top, we didn't stay long before heading down to complete the loop.
Just after the spur is the remains of Mastodon Mine, an old gold mine with a some informational signs and the remnants of various structures. We passed another small palm oasis near Cotton Spring, and the parking lot was full, with cars lining both sides of the road when we got back...gotta love national parks on holiday weekends  . I'm sure we made someone's day when we took off an opened up a parking spot, and we headed back to Phoenix from there, with nice views of the Eagletails along I-10 on the way back. |
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weird) Sexy Grandma, 5.9 and then Dave flashed Double Cross, 5.7+****. These two routes were fun and I'm looking forward to climbing some of the other routes on this formation on another trip.
We walked off the sunny and warm east side, down the easy slabs. There was a queue of beginner climbers waiting to complete this climb, so we decided the next one should be more difficult to thin the herd.
, I decided I would go up the Warren View Trail to see if she was in sight. I got to see a Scott's Oriole ahead on a Joshua Tree. I decided after a while without seeing her that I should go back and get my pack that I had left behind. Lo and behold, she starts coming down the hill at the junction. She had gone on a little adventure and she managed to make a little loop out of it. We headed down the trail for a little bit before linking up the southside (right hand turn from Warren Peak Trail) of the Panorama Trail.
. I took too many pictures but the colors were brilliant; just like our time here. And the nite sky threw some photo ops our way as well.
