Hiked Sunday, May 25. I had slightly higher ambitions going into the weekend, but a minor medical thing meant I didn't have the inclination to try a longer test of the Yakima roof rack system, and limited my ability to take a longer set of hikes. But I did get a little break in time on the boots.
I first hiked Contact Mine back in 2015. I'm sure I've hiked it once or twice since then, but didn't find them in a quick search of my blog. It's possible I didn't manage to blog those other trips.
Sadly, the remains of the mining activity have been somewhat reduced in just those ten years since my first visit. The rail tracks have moved, and some of the machinery seemed missing.
It's still a nice, conveniently-located hike. This being Memorial Day weekend, I anticipated pretty good crowds on the main trails and roads. Contact Mine has the advantage of being just inside the North Entrance (which is usually much less crowded than the "West" entrance), and it's not one of the other major destinations in the Park, though better publicized now than it was when I first walked it.
There were about six other cars in the small lot when I got there. Saw three people hanging out in the parking lot, maybe 3-4 people on the way in, then maybe 8-10 people on the way out. Also, had a line of about a dozen cars at the entrance station as I arrived there, as I got a later start than I wanted.
Temperatures were in the low 80s when I started, and low 90s when I finished. Nice breeze, too.
The trail still starts along the broad wash, with occasional signs on poles, to assure you that you're on the right track. Eventually, you head up to the right (north). Some people go up or down the actual wash, but the higher route is probably easier going, walking on a solid surface rather than sand, although I've never actually walked up the wash to compare the difficulty.
Relatively dry year, so not a lot of wildflowers. A cactus was just starting to bloom, and a few tiny flowers were hugging the ground, as well. But that was about it.
In terms of wildlife, I saw one fair-sized chuckwalla. He's at the top of this post, and, again, in the second shot, which shows him (or her) admiring the landscape. I saw a few other lizards, but I only had my cell phone camera, so the longer ranged shots were pretty fuzzy.
Enjoyed the walk. On the way back, the alternate old dirt road diverged from the trail on several occasions. Scattered old cans and what not, in addition to the few pieces of larger machinery, up at the mine.
Alltrails gave my walking distance on this hike at just about four miles, roundtrip. Despite the proximity to the boundary, you do have a hill between you and Twentynine Palms for the entire hike, so you may not have regular cell phone coverage. My T-Mobile Starlink satellite texting icon showed it was activated, and I sent a few texts, just to try it out. Texts made it out and back in pretty good time, so it was nice to have the backup, in addition to the Personal Locator Beacon that I was carrying. Didn't need either on this hike, of course, but that's why you bring them: Back up!
Took a short hike that afternoon, which I'll probably blog, next. There are also a few Joshua Tree hikes from last year I need to blog, but I think I've already moved those pictures to my laptop, so that may take a while.
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