Distance: 11.7 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: Sorrow's Bastion (4331'), Eaglet Peak (4619')
Elevation Gain: 3307'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.7
Round trip time: 7 hours 45 minutes
Recommended water: 96 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Bird One Street turnaround
Difficulty: Strenuous (route finding)
I'd been wanting to explore more of Joshua Tree south of Eagle Mountain. I climbed Eagle in 2020 and Oasis Peak in 2022. The plan was to get two more peaks deeper in the maze of canyons. I identified two peaks without names, labeled 4331 and 4619 on the USGS topo and christened them "Sorrow's Bastion" and "Eaglet Peak". Neither peak had enough prominence to count as official peaks. I planned to take the big wash just east of Oasis, then leave it to gain the ridge, going over Bastion first, then down to a saddle and up to Eaglet. I planned to return down a gully south of Eaglet that fed my ascent wash. Things don't always go as planned.
I parked at the turnaround at the end of Bird One Street started up the trail. I left the trail about a half mile in to angle toward the opening of the wash. I had forgotten about the giant cholla garden and carelessly picked up a passenger I had to dig out of my calf. I carefully navigated the rest of the garden to reach the wash. The first couple of miles of the wash were easy with a smattering of class 2. I was surprised to find occasional cairns marking the wash. A couple were useful. When I got past Oasis, the wash narrowed and more boulders blocked the path. Nothing exceeded class 2 to this point and it looked like the route was going to work out. You never know until you go. I climbed the loose ridge and there was some scrambling to get over a midpoint. Thirty minutes later, I was on Sorrow's Bastion. I meant to bring a register, but didn't. There were no marks. The views were awesome, especially into the chaotic cluster of rocks just below. Wind blasted me on the peak, so I only stayed long enough for photos.
I found shelter from the wind after I dropped to the saddle below Eaglet, then started up a drainage. It harassed me again on the summit of Eaglet, where someone had erected a small cairn. No marks, no register. The views were nice, but better from the lower peak. Eagle Mountain didn't look that far away, and I might have visited it with more daylight. Instead, I descended into the side gully I planned to take back to the main wash. The top of the gully was easy and I was cruising -- until I hit a 75' dry fall. The north wall looked like a go, so I scrambled up and down into a parallel gully. I wasn't sure if I would hit another bad dry fall, but I made it back to the main wash after a fair bit of class 3 downclimbing. The rest of the descent was pleasant and I tip toed back though the cholla garden. As expected, I saw no other humans all day. I'd like to make one more trip to the rock towers in the future. I was grateful and satisfied with a full day of exploration and untroubled by the traffic snarl on the drive home.
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