On the first day of our recent Thanksgiving break trip to Joshua Tree National Park we went to the new visitor center to get recommendations for hiking trails, specifically trails that we haven't hiked on our previous visits in the park. Based on their recommendations we hiked to the Forty Nine Palms Oasis and the Split Rock Loop Trail. Another trail they recommended to us was the Lost Horse Loop Trail. The way to the trailhead was on an unpaved dirt road, and the park ranger told us that we needed to get there early because the parking area could fit eight cars only and that they close the access to it once it fills up.
On the second morning of our trip we woke up early, had a quick breakfast, then headed into the park and drove directly to the Lost Horse trailhead. I guess that wasn't a reason to be too much in a hurry - there was only one other car parked at that lot. We were glad to have arrived there early though, because this trail was on the longer side and it was good to have plenty of time to hike it.
We chose to hike the loop in the clock-wise direction and see the old abandoned Lost Horse Mine site. A single hiker just returned from there, and he said it was an easy walk.
Our hike begun with a mild ascend. Ahead of us was a small, conical butte. That butte was sort of a landmark for us during the first part of the trail.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
The area we were hiking at was was in the Hexie Range. Mountainous, but geologically old and very much weathered. For the first part we didn't see Joshua Trees. The vegetation was of characteristic Mojave desert scrub with included many yucca, cacti, small desert oaks, and other bushes.
After some mild ascension we walked over a low crest and before descending into the shallow valley beyond I turned around to look back and caught sight of a beautiful, snow-capped mountain - Mount San Gorgonio.
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| Mount San Gorgonio |
Step by step we were passing by the conical hill that we saw ahead of us when we started the hike. That hill, turned out to be quite large.
On the that first crest near the conical hill we started seeing more Joshua trees. Despite having seen Joshua trees many times before, including on this very trip, I am always excited to see them.
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| Western Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia |
There were oaks growing in that desert scrub too. They looked nothing like the majestic oak trees that grow in the Bay Area or in other, wetter parts of the country. The desert oaks looked more like grand bushes. They were definitely oaks though, with acorns and everything.
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| Oak, Quercus sp. |
We were making our way up a mild slope of a dirt road trail. I made a comment that I was seeing no wildflowers whatsoever on this trail. This was, I guess, more typical of the season. A moment later I noticed the flame-like inflorescence of a Nolina plant. It was a bit too far for my wide-angle lens so I asked Pappa Quail to take its photo with his birding camera.
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| Parry's Nolina, Nolina parryi |
While
Pappa Quail focused on the far away Nolina blossom I got distracted by a
large colorful and that was crossing the trail below my feet. The ant
was alone and was struggling to climb a stone that was in its way, not
even trying to go around it.
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| Carpenter Ant |
At some point the ridge crest left of the trail opened up a bit and we got a glimpse of Paradise Valley on the southeast. What we saw was a large plateau with mounds of old granite rocks, and in the background another low mountain range.
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| View southeast |
On the top of the crest right of the trail was something that looked like a giant dowser's tool. That thing was of course, the skeleton of a dead Joshua tree, a tree that died after blooming only once or twice.
Further ahead rose a tall, round top hill. On the side of the hill I could see some structures and a quick glance with my binoculars confirmed that that was the Lost Horse Mine site.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
We reached the bottom of the hill. The trail touring the mine site was a separate loop that split off the main trail. Pappa Quail decided to sit under a small juniper near the trail and wait while I went exploring the mine. The young chika chose to join me on the mine exploration.
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| Lost Horse Mine |
On the trail up the hillside I saw a few more interesting plants such as a cluster of the Mojave kingcup cactus. None of the cacti were blooming, of course. Cacti depend less on anecdotal rainfall.
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| Mojave Kingcup Cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus mojavensis |
At the top of the mine site was a square stone structure. I motioned my chika and we went all the way up to see what that structure was. It turned out to be a water tank, one of two such tank that were built there. The old pipe that used to bring the water from a spring somewhere else was still visible.
The water tank was the highest point of the mine site. Looking to the west I could see both Mount San Gorgonio on the north and Mount San Jacinto on the south. These two mountain sentinels guard the Banning Pass, the low passage way from the Los Angeles are to the Yucca Valley and the Mojave.
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| Snow-capped Mount San Gorgonio (right) and Mount San Jacinto (left) |
Directly below us was an old wooden structure that was sitting on top of he main mine shaft. The structure was enclosed in chicken wire fence, inside which were also the rusting remains of the shaft's elevator. We went down to look at the remains and found an information sign saying that over its years of operation between 1893 and 1936 this mine produced about 9,000 ounces of gold.
On the opposite hillside I could see another stone structure and an open mine shaft that had no elevator structure over it. There was no official trail leading to that part of the mine but it was evident that people did go and explore over there too.
We didn't go to the other hill. We came down from the mine and joined Pappa Quail sitting under the juniper, and had our snack break.
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| California Juniper, Juniperus californica |
From the Lost Horse Mine site we continued up the loop trail. From the next crest beyond the mine hill we had a wonderful view of Paradise Valley below.
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| Paradise Valley View |
On the eastern side of the valley was a large black butte that looked like a cinder cone. That butte was Malapai Hill, which apparently was a little volcano.
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| Malapai Hill |
The trail continued south along the dark slope of the mountain range. Past the crest the trail dropped at a steep slope. The soil was loose gravel and we had to slow down considerably and step with the highest care as to not to slip and fall.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
The steep drop ended at a V-shaped turn and a steep but short uphill grade that cut through a mass of lovely layered gneiss rocks. I took a moment to observe the gneiss layers - they looked delicate and crumbly, but were pretty hard to touch.
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| Gneiss |
The trail curved to the east and into the mountain range. We then descended again at a very mild grade to a shallow wash.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
Down ahead I noticed what looked like a pile of mining debris. Not far from it was a tall pillar of stone that looked like some sort of monument. Considering that place looked like an old deserted mining claim I assumed that the stone pillar was a chimney relic of what once used to be a miner's cabin.
My guess was correct. When we arrived at that site we found that the stone pillar was indeed a chimney. Beside the chimney was the skeleton of a spring bed and a small bench made out of a wood plank resting on two stones. No sign informed us there how much gold did this miner get out of the ground there. There were also no signs of this place having any reliable water source.
From that mining site the trail ascended once again, rising slowly on a slope heavily populated by yuccas, cacti, and occasional Joshua trees ,which are also a species of yucca.
A common species of cactus was the beavertail cactus. The lovely beavertail pads where thick with water and some of them were already showing new growth.
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| beavertail Pricklypear, Opuntia basilaris |
Another common cactus we saw along the trail was the silver cholla. The coat of thorns of this lovely cactus was so thick that I could barely see the flesh of the plant itself beneath it.
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| Silver Cholla, Cylindropuntia echinocarpa |
Joshua trees can take some very interesting shapes. Ahead of us near the trail was a very bent Joshua tree that dangerously curved over the trail. I noted that Pappa Quail and the chika carefully circumvented that tree. I took a few steps away from the trail to take its photo.
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| Western Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia |
Throughout the hike I was also paying attention to the quartz rocks that I was seeing near the mining sites. The gold veins are found in quartz and I was searching those rocks to see if I could spot any gold. I admit that I have no prospecting skills. Quartz-inlaid gold looks quite different than pure gold. I could have seen the biggest vein and bypass it not recognizing it as such.
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| Quartz |
For about a mile or so we were circumventing a shallow conical butte that was marked on the map as the Lost Horse Mountain. When we arrived at the trail spur leading to the mountain's peak I asked Pappa Quail and the chika if they wanted to go up there.
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| Lost Horse Mountain |
Both Pappa Quail and the chika preferred to go on. I didn't argue, and followed along with their choice. Going up that peak might have added a nice vista point and a sense of thoroughness to the hike, but I was also interested in keeping my family happy and I was hoping to maybe go on another little hike after this loop.
The trail continued undulating between the west and the south. From that high plateau we were on we had a great view of
Mount San Jacinto, the mountain that towers over Palm Springs and the
Coachella Valley.
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| Mount San Jacinto |
On hikes I occasionally see all kinds of oddities. On that part of the trail we came upon a little beavertail pricklypear cactus. The pads of these cacti often take the shape of a heart. Someone must have thought it amusing to surround the little cactus with a heart-shaped stone ring.
One of the most iconic plants in Joshua Tree National Park is the Mojave Yucca. We've seen plenty of these yucca plants on every hike we did in this trip, but this one exemplar on the Lost Horse Loop was my favorite.
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| Mojave Yucca, Yucca schidigera |
The trail descended into Quail Wash - a wide wash and turned north. All of a sudden the path was now of soft sand and the hike became almost effortless.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
The number size of the Joshua trees along the Quail Wash increased considerably. These Joshua trees looked very healthy and happy.
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| Western Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia |
Flanking the wash on either side were low ridges of granite and gneiss. The slopes of these ridges were usually mild enough to be covered with plenty of vegetation.
A raven flew across our path - it was the first bird that Pappa Quail could see clearly on this hike. He doesn't usually get excited about ravens but he did photograph this one.
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| Common Raven |
Joshua trees, even healthy and happy, do get into interesting shapes. I photographed many Joshua trees on this part of the trail, which made it quite difficult to choose the photos to post here.
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| Western Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia |
Pappa Quail stopped. He spotted a bird that was perched right on top one of the Joshua trees ahead of us. That bird was a loggerhead shrike - a fierce hunter of bugs and small reptiles that also tends to larder its pray by skewering it on sharp thorns, like the tips of a yucca or Joshua tree leaves.
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| Loggerhead Shrike |
The wash was not flowing but in several places the soil was quite wet, remains of the recent rains. Near one of those places I also spotted a single rabbitbrush that was blooming.
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| Rubber Rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa |
Pappa Quail, who kept his view on the tops of the Joshua trees in hope of seeing more birds, called my attention to a white cluster at the top of one of the trees. That Joshua tree was blooming! Joshua trees bloom in April. None of the other Joshua trees were blooming, but this one tree did not consult the calendar. What a surprise that was!
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| Western Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia |
After admiring the blooming Joshua tree we kept moving on on the sandy trail. Pappa Quail and the elder chika moved ahead of me and were soon engulfed in an intense debate over some topic which I did not hear.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
Pappa Quail paused when he saw a bird, but his excitement faded when he saw that it was only a white-crowned sparrow, one of the most common birds in California.
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
I found some lupine plants that looked lush and happy, but none of the lupines I saw were in bloom. They did know what time of year that was.
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| Lupine, Lupinus sp. |
I also noticed a few small mushrooms blooming under a bush in one of the wetter areas. That was cool to see, those mushrooms after rain in the desert.
Pappa Quail spotted another very common bird - a dark-eyed junco. usually we see the juncos in the forest where they are incredibly difficult to photograph. This time the bird was simply waiting there, perched on top of a bush right out in the open.
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
Pappa Quail and the chika renewed their debate. They were walking briskly and I fell behind them, enjoying the peace and quiet of the desert as I walked along. I was jerked out of my reverie when I heard the chika yelp loudly in pain. She was so engrossed in her debate with her father that she didn't notice a Joshua tree that had a low hanging branch over the trail, and she run into it head first.
Joshua trees are a species of Yucca. Like any Yucca its leaves end with a hard, sharp thorn tip. The Joshua tree thorn that pieced our chika's head broke of the leaf and was lodged so strongly in the poor girl's skull that we couldn't even move it, despite having a complete thorn removal kit with us. Eventually the process got so painfully unbearable to the chika that we gave up on trying to get it out by ourselves. We would have to get her to an urgent care clinic to remove that piece of Joshua tree from our daughter's head.
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| Lost Horse Loop Trail |
First though, we needed to complete the loop trail and get back to our car. The chika was in pain but there was nothing either of us could do about it so we just continued on the trail. On the way though, Pappa Quail finally found a bird he was excited about - a black-throated sparrow, one we don't get to see all to often.
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| Black-throated Sparrow |
While Pappa Quail was busy photographing the sparrow I admired the half moon that was rising over the eastern ridge.
The trail curved a bit eastward and all of a sudden the conical hill that we walked by at the beginning of our hike came into view. It was a sign that we were getting close to the end of the loop hike.
The was became really wide and the western ridge slowly faded away. Although our chika was still in pain she had recovered enough to start joking about the incident.
We passed near a rock mound that had most of the iconic Mojave plants growing n or near it as if they were arranged in a beautiful desert botanical garden. There was the Mojave yucca, Joshua trees, the California juniper, a pinyon pine, and a healthy-looking silver cholla.
There were more Joshua trees along our trail of course. Joshua trees that came in various shapes and sizes. We were all very careful to avoid a physical contact with these beautiful but pointy-tipped plants.
In one of those trees Pappa Quail spotted a ladder-backed woodpecker. Now he was happy - this woodpecker is typical of the desert, we don't get to see that one anywhere in the Bay Area.
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| Ladder-backed Woodpecker |
The last bit of trail we hiked very quickly. By the time we reached our car the small parking lot was already full. We didn't linger there at all - we got right into the car and drove off and out of the park, without stopping for any other little hike.
Outside of the park we discovered that the town of Twentynine Palms didn't have any urgent care clinic. There are a couple such locations marked on the navigator's map but neither was active. We had to drive all the way to Yucca Valley where we passed a long hour in which we mostly did paperwork and then five minutes in which the attendant doctor injected the chika's skull with some novocaine and then used a vacuum syringe to pull out the thorn. He said that they do that often enough in that clinic because all too many park visitors get in physical contact with the local flora, and the desert plants know how to defend themselves.
By the time we were done at the clinic it was already dark. We went to eat dinner then back to our lodge, in the hope that tomorrow's day at the park we be without any unusual incidents.
