Queen Mountain

Decided for my "run" today that I was going to go for my first of many "peak bagging" adventures here in Joshua Tree National Park.  Today I chose Queen Mountain.  It's a totally cross-country route, there is no established trail.  There is a preferred "route" to ascend, but I'm pretty sure I didn't take it.

Queen Mountain from the parking lot.

The stats on Queen Mountain:

Starting Elevation from Parking Lot:  4480'
Peak Elevation:  5687'
Est Round Trip Door to Door:  4-5 miles
Total ~gain:  1207'

I don't know for sure the actual elevation gain and loss, or the distance was over the course of the trip, as my Garmin 305 decided to shit out on me, as it has seemed to do on multiple occasions over the past few weeks (I here Suunto calling my name).  Most of the info/stats are gained from the book On Foot in Joshua Tree National Park by Patty Furbish.  There was obviously more climbing up and down than just going straight up and down the mountain, simply because you have to cross/climb several washes and rock slide areas.

There was far more scrambling and bouldering involved than I expected, especially the further up the mountain I got.  It became pretty slow moving climbs, rather than quick scrambling up the mountain.  I still had a great time though, and got some amazing views.

I think I'll try and get at least one peak per month in the park.  Most are only between 5-6k feet, but it's nice to change it up a little!

Example of Most of the Climbing Sections

Cave on side that had some Desert Bighorn droppings inside..didn't see any, though.

Panoramic Facing towards Palm Springs w/ Mt San Jacinto in distance.

Route Markers?

View from just shy of summit facing 29 Palms.