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Dec 09, 2019 — Queen Mountain is the second highest peak in Joshua Tree National Park. It has a pretty decent social trail leading to the summit, but lacks the crowds. I suppose since it's not an officially advertised trail, few know to look for it. The trail was good enough that this made for a nice easy hike through the desert without worrying about too much route-finding or typical Joshua Tree rock-hopping.
Austin and I started from the Queen Valley Trailhead, accessible by passenger vehicles if driving slowly and if its not raining (mud could be problematic). We followed an old road north on foot as it weaved up toward the foothills of Queen Mountain, where it turned into a nice trail and worked northeast into a gully. The ascent steepened a bit as we ascended this gully. At the top of the gully, the trail curved north and we could see Queen Mountain ahead. We skirted the side of the mountain and then began ascending another gully, this one a bit more human-eroded, and popped out at the eastern saddle of Queen Mountain. Some Class 2 boulder-hopping and a short and beautiful granite slab led to the summit block.
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