"Chasm of Doom" cave system, Joshua Tree National Park

Real Hidden Valley, click image to enlarge

More to tell from a brief weekend in JTNP. Down by Real Hidden Valley there is a cave/tunnel/chimney that long ago earned the name Chasm. This system starts on the outer, eastern side of Real Hidden and runs over, under, and through a large rock formation, exiting inside Real Hidden. In other words, in it's 100 yards, it transits through a "mountain". Chasm is so cool to go through at night, and if the moon is out, some of the light beams through various cracks in the passage. It's a way shroomy passage.

Chasm requires a bit of nerve, some modest climbing skills, and a willingness to get dirty. Some sections are a pretty tight squeeze (The Birth Canal comes to mind), but a good wiggler can find a way through. 

To find Chasm start at the parking for the Real Hidden Valley loop trail and head west towards Loose Lady. If you reach Saturday Night Live you have gone too far. At the first set of picnic tables on the right there is a use trail angling up into the rocks. This path becomes a scramble over and under large boulders, ascending until one reaches an obvious crack/cave system.

Finding the start of it is no small feat. I have had trouble every time I've looked for it, mostly due to the memory retardants I'd ingested on prior excursions, years ago. But I re-found it in broad daylight. To twist Van Morrison, "I can see clearly now, my buzz is gone. I can see all the obstacles in my way..." and climb over them like a Range Rover Defender. I'm out.

Start by negotiating this pile of enormous boulders. 

To pass Chasm you intermittently squeeze, scramble, and crawl.  Don't wear your bestest clothes.

Above and Below: entering, and standing in Chasm's largest vault.

Squeeze & Scrape.

Chimney, dirty chimney. 

Light beams through numerous gaps in the rock, which makes Chasm especially fun on a full-moon night.  This part, with the huge overhead cap-stone is called The Cathedral and is best enjoyed on a moonlit night.

The exit crack, which ends inside Real Hidden Valley.

Wall Street Mill, Joshua Tree National Park

The Wall Street Mill in Joshua Tree National Park is a neatly hidden slice of local desert history. Though no secret, it can be difficult to find, especially for those who get turned around easily. Located on the eastern border of an area of the park called Wonderland of Rocks, this site was an operating gold ore crushing facility during the 1930's and '40's. The trailhead is reached by taking the first left after the Barker Dam parking lot. This trail winds around rock formations (and some great bouldering) headed roughly northeast and brings one to the mill in about a mile, if you don't get lost first.  shortly into the hike, those with open eyes might spy a concrete slab, pinkish, that is poured just under a large boulder. This was the floor of a bunkhouse used by the men who worked the mill. Shortly after that, you see the remains of an old, old truck. This is one of three vehicles from that era in the vicinity of the mill. It was likely used for everything from the transportation of ore to the mill to the drive down to San Bernadino where the gold could be exchanged for cash.

This truck had a straight-6.

Wall Street Mill is built onto the side of a low hill, taking advantage of gravity in the milling process. The ore would be brought up a track to the top of the mill, it would then travel down a chute, drop into a hopper, and then get crushed by a gasoline engine powered, two stamp Baker Iron Works crusher. From there, the crushed ore was processed through a device called a Myer Concentrating Table. It is likely that cast off ore (talings) were then further leached of gold using an arsenic and mercury reduction process. All in all, this would have been a hellish place to work. Hades in the summer, bitter cold in the winter, loud, and considering all the machinery and chemicals, rather dangerous employment.

The mill was built by a bull-headed, hard drinking desert rat named Bill Keys. He basically claimed what is now JTNP as his own in the 1930's. He did not get along well with other prospectors in the neighborhood. In 1943, Keys got into a dispute with another prospector named Worth Bagley. Apparently, Bagley wanted access to the Wall Street for the purpose of processing some of his own ore. It is unclear what all was involved in that gentlemanly discussion, but it culminated in Keys killing Bagley in a gun fight. Bill Keys made a headstone for the recently deceased and, asshole that he was, he wrote this on the marker:

"Here is where Worth Bagley bit the dust at the hand of W. F. Keys, May 11, 1943"

Hard to imagine, but all the following photos were shot inside the lower levels of this 30 foot tall "structure".

These 40 pound slugs are the actual "stamps" used in the 2 stamp mill.

This is a small side room, added to the overall structure, where the gas powered engine that ran the mill was stored.

These were likely used for arsenic and mercury gold ore reduction (leeching). Above the hill that the mill is built into lies the remains of a large water tank, fed by water pumped from a nearby well.

You've got to love the craftsmanship behing these wooden wheels. 

Some of the original belts remain intact.

The Baker Iron Works 2 Stamp Mill.

Above and Below: what was probably a pretty sweet 1936 Dodge back in the day.

P.S.: If you go on this walk, and have very keen eyes (or damn good luck)you can spot some ancient petroglyphs.

Joshua Tree National Park, climbing in Dr Seuss Land

Davi Rivas and myself atop Intersection Rock.

 My wife went to Mammoth over the weekend, a girls ski trip, which left me with a glaring hole in my schedule. I persuaded Davi Rivas to grab the rock gear and head out to JT with me. It had been over 12 years since the last time I roped up for a route in Josh, which seems kind of silly, considering that I used to live out there, had a PO Box at the JTree office, and that I've climbed over 600 routes in the park (many of them multiple times). Maybe I just burned out on rock climbing and the desert all at once, having lived it so completely for so many years. After all that time and distance from one of my past lives, I was eager to just go back to JT and see what I had left behind. Also, though Joshua Tree can be an intimidating place to climb, I was looking forward to donating some blood in the park's notorious, man-eating cracks.

Re-racking for the second pitch of Overhang Bypass.

 This little weekend trip reignited a bit of my old passion for rock climbing. Really, it's about the places that climbing takes you, beautiful places like Yosemite or Josh. I'll have a tough time putting it into words, but stuffing my fist into a gritty, painful JT hand crack really unlocked a part of me that I had ignored for years. It hurt and felt good all at the same time, if that makes any sense. I so enjoyed relearning the moves and the jams that I had known so many years ago. I remembered certain holds and toe smears and hand jams on each of the classic Hidden Valley moderates that I had led so often. We ended up climbing seven routes in 2 days: Sail Away, Toe Jam, Mike's Books, Cyclops, Overhang Bypass, Hands Off, and Double Cross.

Cjillin' in the sun between climbs

 In addition to roping up and climbing routes, we had plenty of time to add some bouldering to the mix. One afternoon we played around at the Turtle Rock boulders, the other evening we spent the sunset thrashing our tips on Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke is an incredible horizontal traverse that runs about 110ft and most of the moves on it go at 5.11, which isn't hard by bouldering standards today but it's the length of the problem that gets people. It is sooo pumpy. Noodly arms quickly ensue. I used to have the thing wired. No more, but the moves came right back and I was able to put it all together in pieces.

The whole weekend I was being smacked by a flood of nostalgia, for Josh changes very little and every corner I rounded held a secret past meaning for me. At Gunsmoke I ran into an old friend from my time living here, John, also known as "Bird Man". This is a name he neither wants nor appreciates. Most people think it stems from the fluid grace with which he glides across the rock, and the extraordinary wing-span that he utilizes to disturbing advantage. No, John is a loner, has been medically treated for psychiatric issues for decades, and seldom speaks to people (it took around three years before he said "hello" to me). The "Bird Man" thing has nothing to do with climbing. It originated back in the '80's when John kept raptors, and occasionally brought them up to what was then called "The Monument" to hunt for small game. People just don't know the guy and assume that he either can't or won't talk when in fact those same people have just stepped into his personal space, often with boom boxes and beer and other irritants. The guy just wants to be left alone by 98% of the people he meets. I rounded the corner to Gunsmoke, saw John, he saw me, stared at me with those unnerving eyes of his and just said, "When did you cut off all your hair?". Well, we had a good chat, he asked about my dad whom he had met once. I filled in the gaps since the last time I saw him and it was like nothing had changed. Personally, I was just really stoked to see that John still survived and thrived in the only place to bring him peace. It was a neat reunion. FYI: John doesn't like people taking pictures of him which is why you won't see one here.

Sunset in Hidden Valley campground.

A blood donation to the JTree rock gods.

This obvious rail on one of the Turtle Rock boulders is too much fun.

Davi leading Cyclops.

Davi Following Hands Off.

Ahhh, Joshua Tree in the winter. It is a mecca for out of staters, ex-pats, drop-outs, dirt-bags and foreign climbers. This time of year fewer than a third of the license plates in the campgrounds will be local. The temps during the day stay in the 50's and climbing in the shade means cold, swollen digits that don't always work right. The rubber on one's rock shoes stick to nearly anything, also known as "optimum smearing temperatures". The arid cold numbs all wounds, of which any JTree climber has plenty. Every season, even summer, has it's JT charms, but winter is best for climbing.

Davi following the appropriately named Toe Jam.

Home Sweet Home. Hidden Valley #19. What used to be known as the Life is Good Camp.

Above & Below: This is a small hidey-hole called the Iron Door Cave. It's not a true cave, more like a dark spot underneath a cap rock which is supported by other boulders. The floor space is about 15-20 feet, always clean and dry. There are two different versions of what Bill Keys (JTree pioneer, rancher, prospector, and all around hard-case who killed a guy in a fair gun-fight) used this cave for once he put a plate steel door on the cave to seal it up. One very sensible story is that Keys used the cave to store his TNT and dry goods in a cool and hidden place. The other version says that Keys used the cave to lock his mad, schizophrenic son away from himself and the rest of the world. There's probably a little truth to both stories, as Keys did indeed have a mad son and he (Keys) was generally recognized to be a very difficult man to be around. Either story has merit but in the end we will never know which is true. It is an interesting place, and with a few candles and some beer, I've ridden out a few El Nino storms in there in complete comfort.

Moon Rise over Old Woman Rock.

When the only way down is up...

Gunsmoke, or part of it.

Hang it Loose, baby!

To say I had a good time on this quick road trip would, of course, be an understatement, but, given my history with this place, I felt like I had been transported back in time. Sadly, I was transported with this beat up, 40 year old carcass. Understand that I'm not complaining about my age, nor am I griping about the fact that I can no longer lead 5.11 after one cup of coffee. Things change, we grow and interests shift, we adjust to the vagaries and responsibilities of life, but JTree doesn't change much. like a broken record, I'll be back again and again.


Check out some pics of my past life in JT: Old post: Out of the Shoebox, Joshua Tree