This old trail takes you to the Desert Queen and Eagle Cliff Mines, offering a perfect blend of rugged desert hiking and rich mining history. The hike showcases some of the park's largest mine ruins and ends at a hidden rock cabin at Eagle Cliff. It is a truly unique spot.
Read next
Cary's Castle North Petroglyphs
In 2016, on an adventure north of Cary's Castle (one of many), I stumbled upon these petroglyphs hidden among the granite boulders of the Eagle Mountains. The abstract designs appear to be Desert Archaic in style, likely created by indigenous peoples who traveled these washes for thousands of
Pine City Overlook
Pine City was never a city. Instead, it's a peaceful collection of pinyon pines and junipers scattered among granite boulder formations at 4,200 feet elevation in Joshua Tree National Park. This unusual concentration of drought-resistant conifers in the otherwise sparse desert landscape likely inspired early miners to
