Eagle Mountain

Eagle Mountain 5350′
Desert Peak Section- Joshua Tree National Park
Total Time: 5:20
Distance: 10.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 2600′
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: Cottonwood Campground, full services

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For my second day in and around Joshua Tree, I planned to tag Eagle Mountain, the highest summit in the southeast side of the park, another CA P2K and DPS summit, with some solo top roping in the afternoon. To maximize daylight, I was again up before dawn, grabbing Starbucks in 29 Palms before heading into the park and parking at Cottonwood Campground shortly after sunrise. The route to this summit was almost entirely cross country, and I set off through the open desert, briefly following a wash before cutting more directly towards the mountain.

I was aiming for a large canyon splitting the western side of the range- the standard ascent route that would lead up to the summit ridgeline. Even with the obvious landmark to stay oriented on the approach, I still wound up a bit south of the canyon entrance, consistently pushed off course by a number of washes and pockets of boulders. Rather than lose elevation, I traversed on the slopes south of the canyon floor, this route a bit brushier than on Spectre Point the day before, ultimately linking up with the canyon base 3.6 miles and 1.5 hours into my day.

Although there was a faint use trail in the canyon, it quickly fizzled out in the upper reaches, cutting up the headwall to the ridgeline above. On the ridgeline, I was immediately blasted by wind, with 50 mph gusts forecasted for the day, likely higher up on the ridgelines. It would be by far the coldest day of the trip, and even as I added layers and a winter hat, it was far too cold and windy to be enjoyable.

From the ridgeline, I needed to drop into a shallow intervening valley, again not finding much of a use trail as I worked around boulders, fins of rock and plenty of sharp brush, still not bad compared to the Sonoran Desert but not quite as easy as the day before. The final quarter mile to the summit was the windiest by far, and I stayed at the summit just long enough for a few pictures before dropping back off the way I had came.

Although I came across a few cairns as I hiked back through the intervening valley, it was hardly anything I would qualify as I use trail, and I dropped back into the approach canyon a little over 3 hours from starting out. My goal was to stick to the canyon a bit longer on the descent. While this worked initially, the main wash quickly split into a series of parallel alluvial fans, and I was pushed much too far north.

Unable to see the campground through the washes and desert, I needed to constantly reference my GPS, taking some time to get back on track and not rejoining my ascent line until I was less than a mile from the campground. It was almost noon when I reached my car, the outing taking longer than I had anticipated and not all that enjoyable due to the high winds. I hopped in the car and headed to the north through the park for a little top roping. I again struck out, unable to reach the summit anchors number of climbs that I had planned to solo top rope. After two hours and two different locations, I was able to climb Touch and Go, a classic 5.9, followed by a number of slab climbs at Echo Rock.

Losing daylight, I left the park and headed back to 29 Palms for dinner at The Rib Co. before heading back to the hotel for the night.