[John Morrow]

After freezing my kiester at 4000ft in Mojave National Preserve, I really had no clear idea of what I wanted to do next. Covid killed my usual holiday plans so I was beginning to think I was in it for the long haul down here in the desert. At least by my standards. When temps get into the low 20s and my water bottle freezes solid outside of the tent, it is time to lower my base elevation. Corn Springs, with its rock art and hiking potential, had been on my radar. A longish drive, yet lower in altitude and latitude, and surrounded by the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness, made the drive worthwhile. Plus, I'd be quite close to Joshua Tree National Park. The petroglyphs are fantastic. The site is considered to be on a prehistoric migration/trade route from the Colorado River used by the tribes such as the Chemehuevi inhabiting the lower river corridor. Typical elaborate geometric abstract style of those tribes.

My goal was to find a few summits that I could link with some enjoyable ridgerunning and have some big views of future potential trips. I chose a couple unnamed peaks leading to a known and oft scrambled benchmark. Fine scrambling on the southeast ridge of Peak 2827 led to a long ridgewalk over Peak 2927 and then onto Corn Benchmark 3149' After the summits I descended a west ridge of Corn BM to a really nice waterpolished canyon trending south back to my start about 2 miles west of the campground (good road for decent clearance passenger vehicles).

Chuckwalla

Morning at Corn Springs

first sun

1000 year old trail

first on the agenda Peak 2827'

ridge looks nice

awesome scrambling

granitic solid

raven dances

those two next

yucca

ocotillo

On to Peak 2927'

Spring Tank Canyon

barrels and ocos

Corn Benchmark next

solid polished draw to descend

central NW rib looks simple

looking back

Corn Springs below

SW ridge descent to canyon

avoid dryfall

unnamed canyon descent

the end

After a taste of the Chuckwalla Mountains I decided to save other explorations for another trip and move on to Joshua Tree. In Jtree I did mostly either trail hikes or easy crosscountry walks up easy summits. CA State reclosed campgrounds so I was left to fend for myself. However, JTree NP has a great rule that backpack camping is allowed just one mile from any road. After wasting most of the day getting oriented to the park on drives and picnicking I managed to get up Mount Inspiration for the sunset. An easy trail mile from Keys View parking.

Above the Heart of Joshua Tree

crazy rays

Salton Sea distant

Setting sun on Inspiration Point

San Jacinto

getting late, find a camp

Time to find a camp so I drove in the dark to Pleasant Valley and backpacked a dark mile along the dry lake to a fine camp. Against my better judgement I found myself above 3000 feet again and a cold below freezing night ensued. Low 20s cold.

1 mile backpack

morning in Pleasant Valley

Pleasant Valley Lake

dry lake JTree style

Returning to my car, I drove the Geology Loop (High Clearance required!) and moved up the road to a parking pullout for an easy walk up Malapai Butte.

Up Malapai Butte

Ryan Mountain distant

retrun from the Butte

Lots of daylight left, and less energy, left me seeking one more easy hike. Something called Negro Hill fit the bill. By walking it from the east and descending north gave me a nice loop through Joshua Tree forest.

Queen Mtn after Negro Mtn hike

ubiquitous

typical JTree scenery

petro

petro

petro

Though I left tons to do in JTree, I wasn't looking forward to more cold camping and backpacking to find a site. So back all the way to the Colorado River I went. Wasting gas and wearing tires...by my standards, but it was pulling me there.

[Ski]

very cool.