Keys Peak 4484′
Joshua Tree National Park
Total Time: 3:00
Distance: 7.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 700′
Crux: Class 2
Companions: Holly
Trailhead: Boyscout trailhead, no water
After a February trip to Joshua Tree was cancelled from my toddler lacerating my cornea, we found a weekend for redemption one month later. Unfortunately, this time it was the weather gods working against us, with unseasonably cold weather and intermittent rain and snow spoiling our climbing plans. I hoped to get in at least a few pitches in our small weather windows, but the first day was not looking promising. So while waiting for the rain to stop, we decided on a climb of Keys Peak, a Sierra Club Lower Peak Section summit on the north side of the park and not too far from some of the popular climbing areas, giving me an idea of real time conditions. It was raining fairly hard when we reached the Boy Scout Trail trailhead, a surprising number of cars park on the rainy weekday. We set out on the flat trail through the desert with umbrellas overhead, something I’ve only done a handful of times.
Just when it seemed like the rain was stopping, another cloud would move in overhead, doing our best to stay somewhat dry as we hopped over puddles moving north. To the east was the Wonderland of Rocks, featuring 100s of climbs across dozens of domes, spires and granite cliffs. But we were aiming for a less inspiring looking pile of rocks directly north, dotted with boulders and shrubs but none of the other distinctive granite faces of the features just south.
The trail was almost completely flat until we began to round the slopes to the west of the peak, passing a number of backcountry campsites (some even occupied despite the rain) before cutting east on the northern slopes of the peak, now only 400′ above.
We left the trail here, following a poorly defined use trail through the desert scrub with the occasional cairn to keep us on track. There was a small bit of scrambling just below the summit, the rain backing off just in time for us to use both hands for scrambling on the final summit push. We topped out at 10:20 AM, and although we could see pockets of rain in the distance and fresh snow on the higher summits, it did look like things may be starting to clear.
After a quick bite to eat, we started back down, hoping to take advantage of the weather window while we could. The rain held the entire hike out, some of the puddles even noticeably shrinking and a number of the granite faces starting to dry with the light wind.
It was just before noon when we got back to the car and we headed straight for Hidden Valley campground, hoping to get in a few pitches before losing our weather window…