Gold Mines & Pinyon Pines - Joshua Tree National Park
Explor Date: November 23 of 2020: The Year that wouldn’t End
Contrarian Hiking: Hiking in a direction different from where everyone else goes.
Most folks who park at the Desert Queen Mine/Pine City parking area generally head off to see the mines, or maybe Eagle Cliff hideout, or out to Pine City. But being in a contrarian mood, I decided to head southeast into the ruff, to see what I could find.
As shown by the map above, it was zigzag, up/down/turnaround, what’s over there, oh look at that rock, deadend retrace, gold mines and pinyon pines. Here are some of the sights seen in roughly four miles of traipsing around off-trail. In a general order of my journey. And let me say, if you like pinyon pines, you’ve come to the right place.
The Pinyon Pine is a friend of mine. It’s a slow-growing, compact, long-lived, drought tolerant tree that often provides me shade while wandering. Sometimes spelled piñón (Spanish for pine nut), they are native to the American Southwest and can live up to 600 years. Mature trees will produce light brown cones, the seeds of the female cones are the tasty pine nuts. Native Americans ate the nuts raw, baked or ground them into flour. They steeped the pine needles for tea, the inner bark was used to ward off starvation during harsh times. Birds, chipmunks, quail, squirrels are also big fans of the pine nuts. Today, incense is made from crushed cones, the pitch from the tree is used as a calking compound for watertight baskets and as glue for turquoise jewelry.
So why are there often so many dead pinyon pines? I don’t know, but they make for picturesque picturing. Could be drought, pine beetles, or just old age.
My course of travel loosely followed Snake Wash, perhaps so-named because of its serpentine path. But it doesn’t take much to draw me off in any random direction. A hint of color, a flower, and oddly shaped rock. Sometimes a random hunch.
One of my favorite finds of the day. This pinyon seems to be hanging on for dear life.
The light colored debris brought my attention to this old mine. It’s one of several in the general area, all of which have had their opening caved in.
“The Chute,” how did that boulder get caught at the very bottom.
Rawr
The history of the hibachi grill is thought to date back to the Heian period, which existed between 794 and 1185 AD. This one is probably not that old.
Another mine, near the hibachi sighting. Of all the quotes I’ve read about gold mines, I like Mark Twain’s the best: “A hole in the ground owned by a liar.”
There were many alcoves and small caves carved into the rocks along most of my route, some big enough to crawl into, take a rest and enjoy the view.
The large boulder at the right is known as “The Nugget.” Perhaps due in part to its being just a stone’s throw away from the gold mine in the upper left.
Here’s a look at that same mine, this time taken from way up above.
This cross-hatched formation is quite impressive, especially when standing right in front of it. One source calls it Double Cross Rocks, but I’m not positive about that I.D.
The large pinyon pine tree stump in the foreground really caught my attention. It has obviously been sawed down. Was the wood used for one of the nearby mines? There’s not much else out here that I could think of, and there was no evidence nearby of the rest of the tree. Treeknapping?
Now, this is a bona-fide boulder. In fact, it’s name is The Bona Fide Boulder.
This is one of my favorite spots along Desert Queen Wash, also known as Snake Wash. This little clearing surrounded by rocks. Check out the size of that juniper on the left. And straight ahead is a tall, tall pinyon pine. I believe Gold Rush wash heads off to the right.
Sitting under the tall, tall pinyon pine.
The Pyramid formation is right across the wash from the tall, tall pinyon pine.
I went a bit farther north in the wash from this spot, but then decided it was time to start back to the truck. There were still a few things I wanted to find.
Let me introduce you to the Lucky Boys. This is a very cool spot if you can find it. Behind the boys are some great hideaways.
Here’s a last shot of that earlier mine, taken from the Lucky Boy’s ledge.
A faint petroglyph.
Roughly 4-1/2 miles in around 3-1/2 hours, it was a great morning explor. I definitely recommend visiting this area, just make sure to keep track of where you’re going and how you’ll get back. It’s easy to get misplaced out in the ruff. Check your backtrail and spot landmarks for your return trip.
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