Eagle Mountain

Hiked: 10/23/2020
Distance: 10.4 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 5350'
Prominence: 2230'
Elevation Gain: 2541'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.0
Round trip time: 7 hours
Recommended water: 148 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Park Fee (1 car for 1 week)
Difficulty: Strenuous (cross country/route finding)

Eagle Mountain (DPS #62) is a prominent high point in the southern part of Joshua Tree. It is remote and the hike is completely cross country. I started just before sunrise, heading almost directly east from the Cottonwood Campground. The first couple of miles were easy, open desert. Sunlight brightened the landscape behind me, but was blocked by the mountains I was approaching. Most of the ascent was done in shade. I looked for the ascent gully as I got closer and noticed the giant boulder piles in the way. The gully was farther north than I expected and I had to escape the boulder piles to get there. It would have worked better to travel north of the obstacles for a clear shot at the gully. For a brief moment, I considered heading straight up one of nastier looking slopes, but once I got into the standard ascent gully, I was glad I didn't. The gully was fun class 2 and I made quick progress. I took one break about half way up to load up on calories, then completed the 1500' gully. Coming out of it, I broke into sunlight and realized I had another 3/4 mile to the summit.

Monument Mountain distant left

Start of the ascent gully

Eagle across the valley
The path to the summit involved dropping into a shallow valley and navigating through more large boulders. The way was marked by occasional cairns and a use trail was visible in some places. Climbing out of the valley put me on a false summit and there was still a final bit of up. I arrived to fantastic views, especially south where the geology rose like the exposed bones of the earth. I found the benchmark, one reference mark, and a slew of registers dating back to 1994. Since it was on the DPS list, it was fairly popular among a certain crowd. It certainly wasn't popular this day as I was the only human anywhere near the mountain. I only rested long enough to complete my summit rituals. I started back and took a couple of minutes to climb an obvious boulder pile in the valley topped with a round boulder. When I got to the top of the gully, I got too close to a yucca and suffered a nice bleed. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but was bad enough that I had to stop and treat it before continuing down. While it was less work to descend the gully, it wasn't much faster, having to account for loose rocks and dirt. I stayed in gully until I was north of the big obstacles I ran into on the approach. It was a solid day in the desert.

Looking east

Looking south

Got too close to a yucca, it's a bleeder!

Starting down the gully

An unusual dry fall

Final look back

Shoshone Point, AZ

Hiked: 10/6/2020
Distance: 2 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 7000'
Elevation Gain: 0'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.0
Round trip time: 1 hour
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Park Fee (1 car for 1 week)
Difficulty: Easy

Shoshone Point is a short hike from highway 64 inside Grand Canyon National Park. There is a parking lot at the trailhead that holds about 20 cars. It is a flat out and back through the forest and ends in a 200' protrusion into the canyon providing 330 degree views. The views are truly spectacular and not available from nearby road turnouts. Near the end of the point is an 8' monolith. After taking some photos, I had to scramble up. The monolith was stable but I'm not sure park management would approve.

South Kaibab to Skeleton Point, AZ

Hiked: 10/6/2020
Distance: 6.8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 7205' (South Rim), 5141' (Skeleton)
Elevation Gain: 2060'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.6
Round trip time: 4 hours
Recommended water: 88 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Park Fee (1 car for 1 week)
Difficulty: Moderate

Our second descent into the Grand Canyon this week started at South Kaibab trail. Actually, it started 0.4 miles from the trail at a parking area on highway 64. The only direct access to the trailhead was via shuttle. We decided to walk the extra distance. We started a little after sunrise and dropped down some initial switchbacks before settling into a more moderate descent. There was a crowd of people taking selfies when we reached Ooh Aah Point. We continued down where similar photo ops were available. In short order, we reached Cedar Point, a plateau with working restrooms, but no water. While we were there, a lone bighorn sheep wandered slowy along the plateau, nibbling brush.

Below Cedar Ridge, the trail dropped right of a massive butte where we could finally see the lower plateau that led to Skeleton Point. It levelled out the last half mile. The best views were past the sign for Skeleton Point where we could see a section of the Colorado River. Looking east, we could make out the Bright Angel trail and the trail to Plateau Point. We hung around Skeleton Point for 15 minutes, snacking and taking photos. After a good rest, we packed up and started up. It looked like a long way up, but was a 1000' less than from Indian Garden, so we weren't worried. The trip up was uneventful, other than traffic on the trail increased, especially as we neared the top. It seemed a lot of people preferred a late start which would not work to their advantage.

Colorado River visible from here

Track has a lot of errors, especailly around the rim

Red Butte, AZ

Hiked: 10/5/2020
Distance: 3.1 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 7326'
Prominence: 946'
Elevation Gain: 923'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.7
Round trip time: 1 hours 40 minutes
Recommended water: 16 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Forest Road 340
Difficulty: Easy

On our off day, we drove outside the Grand Canyon about 20 miles to Red Butte. It's the nearest mountain to the South Rim and still in the Kaibab National Forest. We were the only people at the trailhead and we had the mountain to ourselves. The trail is in good shape and easy to follow. Oddly, it winds away from the Butte at one point before coming back. There was a good amount of shade under cedars and other small trees so the sun doesn't hammer you. On top, we found an unmanned fire lookout tower and an outhouse, both locked. After some seaching I found the benchmark near the outhouse, a reference mark and a mark placed by the Arizona Dept. of Highways. No register. The summit plateau is large and flat. From the summit, we could barely make out the north rim of the Grand Ganyon. We rested at the table for a few minutes before heading down.

Red benchmark placed 1920