Distance: 9.1 miles round trip cross country
Summit Elevation: 4759'
Elevation Gain: 1300'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.0
Round trip time: 4 hours 35 minutes
Recommended water: 80 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Parks Fee or Annual Pass
Difficulty: Easy
The Hexie Mountains are a small range in the western part of Joshua Tree. It's isolated from most park traffic since it's past the end of Geology Tour Road. I drove about 2 miles south of Geology Tour Road and parked on the side of Berdoo Canyon Road. High clearance was needed and I used 4x4 for deep sand, likely overkill. The first two miles were open desert. I eventually dropped into the main ascent gully. While there were no trails, I did see human footprints in the sand. The gully had a lot of twists and turns and some interesting black and white volcanic rock. The only obstacles were cactus and catclaw, but there was always and easy way around. I hit a couple of small dry falls (<10'), but they could also be easily bypassed. It amazed me how gentle the gully was that got me within a few hundred feet of the summit. The angles were so slight that it felt like I was walking on flat ground most of the time. The summit had no benchmark, but there was a register in a glass jar inside a painted can. The register appeared to be placed by Bob Burd in 2010. There were only a couple dozen parties that had signed in since then. I was the second visitor this year. Nice 360 views of this part of JT. The only animals I saw were enormous jack rabbits. Enormous. One was almost coyote sized. Of course, it was gone before I get a photo. While I usually prefer more challenging adventures, I had a great time on this leisurely hike in the desert. Despite being 9 miles of open desert, it didn't really rise to the level of a Moderate outing. The only thing that might have been tricky was finding the truck on the way back. There weren't many landmarks and I could only see the truck when I was within 500' of it. Without GPS, heading for Little Berdoo Peak on the horizon would have gotten me close. Keep navigation in mind if you go without a GPS.
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