Skull Rock Nature Trail • Hike • California • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Inland, CA

Hiking		Feb 28 2025
		ddgrunning • Triplogs 604

Hiking	3.35 Miles	1,068 AEG

Hiking	3.35 Miles	2 Hrs 43 Mns	1.47 mph
	1,068 ft AEG	26 Mns Break

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Stop #4 on our Joshua Tree NP Tour

This was our final hike of the day, and the most strenuous--to the top of Ryan Mountain. Over 1000 ft AEG in around 1.5 miles. Not crazy, but more of a workout than the day's earlier jaunts.

Trail construction is meticulous. Many stair-steps fashioned in to the trail. Nice views of the Hall of Horrors, Hidden Valley and beyond as you make the climb.

From the summit, which is topped by a huge pile of rocks, views to the West, South, and East open up.

Originally, our plan was to descend and drive out to catch the sunset at Keys View, but we decided we didn't have time to make it out there, so we hung out and waited for the sunset from Ryan Mountain summit. Turned out to be a nice, though not spectacular, sunset.

Ended up hiking the last mile or so down by headlamp.

On our way back to Twenty-Nine Palms, we stopped at "Skull Rock" and took some night photos, having a little fun with our redlight settings on the headlamps.

Watched the stars for a bit, and cooked up some dinner in the RV before exiting the park for the night.

It was a full agenda on day 1! And we planned to come back for more on day 2.

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Nov 06 2023

trekkin_gecko

Guides 10
Routes 673
Photos 7,281
Triplogs 4,660

67 female

Joined Nov 17 2008
phoenix, az

Inland, CA

Hiking		Nov 06 2023
		trekkin_gecko • Triplogs 4,660

Hiking	12.00 Miles	2,370 AEG

Hiking	12.00 Miles
	2,370 ft AEG

no routes

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Lost Horse Mine

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johnlp

john and i made a three day trip to joshua tree national park
monday we drove to the park and planned to hike in the area near our campsite at jumbo rocks
we started with ryan mountain, which is one of my favorites there
good elevation gain for a short hike, and great views from the summit
not many people on the trail until we started down
we stopped at hall of horrors, which is apparently more of a climbing area
walked around some of the rock formations
next we did the up and back to lost horse mine
spent some time checking out stone buildings, mining equipment, the stamp mill and some tailings
drove up to keys view after that
did the short hike to ryan ranch and checked out some of the old structures and equipment
found our campsite in jumbo rocks, set up and had some lunch
late afternoon we did the skull rock nature loop, finishing just after sunset
nice day with a good collection of different hikes
ryan ranch and hall of horrors were new to me

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hazhole

Nov 06 2023

johnlp

Guides 1
Routes 14
Photos 7,202
Triplogs 5,208

68 male

Joined Mar 16 2008
chandler,az

Inland, CA

Hiking		Nov 06 2023
		johnlp • Triplogs 5,208

Hiking	12.00 Miles	2,370 AEG

Hiking	12.00 Miles
	2,370 ft AEG

no routes

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Lost Horse Mine

Discovery Trail Skull Rock Loop

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trekkin_gecko

Day one of our three-day trip to Joshua Tree National Park.
Kelly did the planning and I did the driving.
Lots of different trails and scenery. Fun day.

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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“Good people drink good beer.” Hunter S Thompson

Apr 10 2023

trekkin_gecko

Guides 10
Routes 673
Photos 7,281
Triplogs 4,660

67 female

Joined Nov 17 2008
phoenix, az

Split Rock Loop - Discovery Loop, CA

Hiking		Apr 10 2023
		trekkin_gecko • Triplogs 4,660

Hiking	3.64 Miles	538 AEG

Hiking	3.64 Miles	2 Hrs 9 Mns	1.95 mph
	538 ft AEG	17 Mns Break

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tibber

Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

angela and i had planned a three night hiking/camping trip to joshua tree
we left town monday morning and got to the southern entrance around noon or so
kept driving up to the split rock trailhead where we had some lunch
the split rock trail was a new one for me and we set out clockwise on the loop
found where we could extend the hike to face rock, then continued to skull rock
lots of people around skull rock but the rest of the hike wasn't all that crowded
took the discovery loop back to split rock trail and finished out the loop
lots of great rock formations, joshua trees and quite a few wildflowers
fun to do something new
drove back to cottonwood campground
set up camp and relaxed in the shade, eventually eating the sandwiches we brought rather than cook
low 50s at night with good stargazing

Geology

Geology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Igneous - Intrusive

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Skull Rock

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hazhole

Nov 08 2021

trekkin_gecko

Guides 10
Routes 673
Photos 7,281
Triplogs 4,660

67 female

Joined Nov 17 2008
phoenix, az

Inland, CA

Hiking		Nov 08 2021
		trekkin_gecko • Triplogs 4,660

Hiking	7.25 Miles	960 AEG

Hiking	7.25 Miles
	960 ft AEG

no routes

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Fortynine Palms Trail

Hidden Valley - Joshua Tree NP

Barker Dam Nature Trail Loop

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bonus trip with my friend from nebraska, who has an extra week of vacation to visit az/ca
took off early monday monday morning, stopping at taco mio in quartzsite for breakfast burritos
the southern entrance to joshua tree is less than four hours from phoenix
we checked out our campsite and decided to drive on up to 29 palms first

fortynine palms trail:
out and back climbing over a ridge then dropping down to a large cluster of fan palms
nice trail construction, good views, enough elevation gain to make it interesting
the palms were fun to check out, kind of random location for them in the surrounding dry hills

skull rock:
parked at the campground and did the loop
skull rock was crowded, but a nice destination
decent trail through a jumble of boulders

hidden valley:
had done this little hike with @johnlp and @tortoise_hiker on our way back from the sierras a few years ago
nice stroll through taller granite, some of it climbing areas

barker dam:
right next door, also a repeat
no water at the dam

drove back down to cottonwood area, arriving in the dark
set up camp and cooked dinner, discovering i'm out of practice car camping and had a borrow a couple of things from the neighbors

temps were warm enough, but winter daylight hours mean a long time in the tent
fun first day in the park, and sue liked it too

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Joshua Tree National Park

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hazhole

Dec 15 2017

John9L

Guides 6
Routes 183
Photos 5,612
Triplogs 1,647

male

Joined Mar 12 2004
Scottsdale, AZ

Cottonwood Spring Nature Trail

Inland, CA

Hiking		Dec 15 2017
		John9L • Triplogs 1,647

Hiking	18.50 Miles	3,500 AEG

Hiking	18.50 Miles
	3,500 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

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11 linked trail guides

Mastodon Peak Loop Trail

Mastadon Peak

Barker Dam Nature Trail Loop

Barker Dam Trail

Hidden Valley - Joshua Tree NP

Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail

Arch Rock Nature Trail

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Headed up to Joshua Tree with a friend for a fun weekend exploring. We car camped two nights in the Cottonwood Campground and did a variety of hikes over the weekend and then I headed back to Phoenix Sunday afternoon.

Mastodon Peak Loop – Made a quick loop on Friday afternoon during sunset. There are remains of an old mine and a use trail that wraps around to the top of Mastodon Peak. Nice views up there!

Ryan Mountain – Started off with Ryan on Saturday morning. The trail is in great condition and makes a healthy climb over the course of 1.5 miles. The summit is marked by a massive rock cairn. The views would have been nice if not for the extremely poor air quality.

Barker Dam Loop – After Ryan, we headed over to the Barker Dam area and spent some time exploring the area and searching for glyphs. We had mixed results by finding some and not others. There is one set of glyphs, marked on the topo map, that have been touched up with paint. There was a light rain for about an hour.

Hidden Valley – Made the quick Hidden Valley loop in the afternoon. This is a really nice area that is very popular with rock climbers and day hikers. Very scenic and nice hiking.

Key Views – We ended our Saturday at Key Views where we hiked a short way up a use trail to the west and enjoyed the sunset. It’s a wonderful view of Palm Springs and San Jacinto but the air quality is disgusting! From there we returned to Cottonwood and settled in for the evening.

Split Rock Loop / Skull Rock – On Sunday morning we drove back into the heart of the park and did a short loop hike by Split Rock / Skull Rock. Fairly nice area.

Arch Rock – Short hike and exploration by Arch Rock

Cholla Garden – We ended on the Cholla Garden Nature Walk.

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1 archive

Oct 31 2017

AZWanderingBear

Guides 27
Routes 61
Photos 2,620
Triplogs 700

69 male

Joined Jan 23 2008
Phoenix, AZ

Joshua Tree NP, CA

Hiking		Oct 31 2017
		AZWanderingBear • Triplogs 700

Hiking	33.50 Miles	4,550 AEG

Hiking	33.50 Miles
	4,550 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

14 linked trail guides

Desert Queen Mine and Wash

Wall Street Mill Trail

Barker Dam Trail

Barker Dam Nature Trail Loop

Fortynine Palms Trail

Hidden Valley - Joshua Tree NP

Lost Horse Mine

Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail

Cottonwood Spring Nature Trail

Mastadon Peak

Partners

partners

AZBeaver

Headed out to Joshua Tree for 4 days of camping and hiking. We didn't get a real early start, so we were very lucky to find an available spot in Ryan Campground, our second choice. Not a fan of campgrounds, but they can be a necessary evil. Ryan is centrally located and our little spot backed up to some nice granite. Apparently half our neighbors were there to mostly be loud. Of the other half, we were pleasantly surprised to meet a young couple from Switzerland who are doing a few years exploring North America in their iconic 2002 Land Rover Defender. I love Land Rover's unofficial motto - "making mechanics out of drivers since 1948."

We tackled Ryan Mountain first to get a nice view of the area. Drove part of Geology Road which isn't all that interesting when you don't have the accompanying guide for what's significant at each of the sign posts. The guides are not available at the large metal box at the start of the road marked "Guides", only at the visitor centers miles and miles away. Did have fun exploring Squaw Tank, a small dam with some good rocks to scramble on nearby. Desert Queen Mine, Wall Street Stamp Mill and the Barker Dam provided a look back into the history of the area. Stopped by Skull Rock for a belated Halloween celebration and some more rock scrambling fun.

Ryan Ranch was very close to our campground so we strolled out to explore our second morning. Interesting place. Willow Hole is hike not listed on HAZ. We saw it on a park brochure and thought the name was worth exploring. It is a 7 plus mile round trip through sand to several willow trees in some damp earth. Took the opportunity to drive north and hike to 49 Palms. Yes, we counted them and there were 3 palms too many. MJ corrected the error and they are back to 49. Coyote Corner offers gifts, souvenirs, and 7.5 minute showers for only $4 per token. Highly recommended!

Keys View is a nice drive and a small walk. Gives a great view of the San Andreas Fault below, which of course isn't mentioned on the informational signs at the view point. We took a side dirt road on a whim and found a trailhead for Lost Horse Mine. We opted for the entire loop. The mine had a 10 stamp mill and operated for a long time. Water was pumped the 3.5 miles from Ryan Ranch to support the mine and mill. The southern half of the loop offers nice views and some other mine ruins. White bursage was blooming and when you brush against it or crush some in your hands it smelled like lemons. We explored around the Hidden Valley area and watched some friendly climbers at work for a bit.

The drive out took us past Cottonwood Campground and the Mastadon Peak and Mine Loop. The scramble to the top of Mastadon was short but fun with a chuckwalla lamenting our intrusion into his morning sunning routine.

We stopped off at the General Patton and Desert Training Center Museum at Chiricao Summit. The US Army trained in southern CA and southwestern AZ before embarking to North Africa to confront Hitler and Rommel in the Sahara, our entry into WW-II. The training was vital in learning to cope with desert conditions. The outline of the road network from the many camp towns established as part of the Desert Training Center are still visible when you fly over the area. The museum has an impressive collection of artifacts from the period.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Chuckwalla

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All you have is your fire...
And the place you need to reach

1 archive

Mar 20 2016

cw50must

Guides 11
Routes 2
Photos 3,776
Triplogs 334

48 male

Joined Jun 09 2009
Mesa, AZ

Inland, CA

Hiking		Mar 20 2016
		cw50must • Triplogs 334

Hiking	1.70 Miles	85 AEG

Hiking	1.70 Miles
	85 ft AEG

no routes

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This was our last hike of the day in Joshua Tree. The skull rock is the highlight and will be full of people taking pictures, but once you venture out on the nature trail, not so many people. The trail is a nice easy hike with plenty to look at. If you complete the loop you'll be going through part of the campgrounds, its kind of a weird route.

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Apr 17 2015

afrankie

Routes 39
Photos 353
Triplogs 128

37 male

Joined Sep 30 2015
Carrboro, NC