Hiked February 8, 2026. My seventh hike of the year.
This was following another night of astronomy at Sky's the Limit. I stayed in Twentynine Palms overnight, then got a couple of really short hikes in, before returning to the motel to check out and drive home. There are a few shots I took the previous night in my last post.
I've hiked this mountain many times, including at least once in the last six months or so, though it looks like I didn't blog my last trip up here (nor my hike around Lost Horse Mine, also within the past 4-6 months, I thought). If I have the time, I'll need to find those photos and write up a post.
Ryan Mountain is one of the few official "mountain" hikes in Joshua Tree, proper (the others "mountain" hikes I've taken in JOTR are Eureka Peak and Warren Peak, both accessed from the Black Rock area of Joshua Tree, south of Yucca Valley).
The parking for Ryan Mountain is a designated stargazing site, and I've used it or the area around it for astrophotography on several occasions, which is why I know I hiked here recently. I took photos of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, in October 2024, and Comets SWAN and Lemmon, in October 2025.
It's a large paved parking lot with a vault toilet, where headlights won't usually shine directly into the parking lot. The ground also slopes down, to the west, so good for looking at things near the sun, after sunset. Conversely, it does rise somewhat to the east, and you've also got Ryan Mountain blocking a bit of your south, so it depends on which way you want to look. For looking to the east, before sunrise, I have observed from the Arch Rock trailhead parking area. For the south, Sky's the Limit would work fine, although it's slightly less dark, due to its proximity to Twentynine Palms.
For this hike, I was up a little earlier than planned, and needed to get back to town moderately early, so I settled on this one. It's a very easy trail to follow, which meant I could, if I got an early enough start, have hiked up in the dark, with a headlamp. I ended up not getting that early of a start. The sun hadn't risen at the base of the mountain, but the sky was plenty bright by the time I started.
Just prior to sunrise, if you look to the west, you'll see a banding in the sky -- darker near the horizon, transitioning into orange, then white. That's the Belt of Venus, which is the result of the shadow of the earth on the atmosphere. Sunlight hits the upper atmosphere, making it brighter. The lowest part is still in darker shadow. Because the atmosphere scatters light, the transition from dark to lighter color is gradual, rather than sudden.
You get the same thing in the east, after sunset. Since I'm often up and wandering about around sunset, I see that, often. I'm less frequently having time to wander and admire a sunrise, so seeing a morning "Belt of Venus" was kind of cool.
Because of my relatively early start, I had few people heading down as I went up, although one couple was already switching out their boots and getting into their car when I got to the parking lot. Three people were already at the top when I got to the top, and several more arrived within a few minutes of me. Still, relatively quiet, up there. Wandered around the summit, and took some pictures. Did not bother trying to scramble up the pile of rocks at the summit, which would have given me another five feet or so of altitude. What's the point?
The return trip was faster than the way up. Overall, my Alltrails recording gave me 3.2 miles and 1078 feet of altitude gain for this segment.
Even as I walked down, I was considering my next step, which I decided would be the Hall of Horrors. I've parked and walked around there, before, but hadn't found the actual "Hall," before. Decided to look for that. Alltrails helped.
This parking lot was also pretty empty at the time. Funny thing was the trashcan, with all the trash sprawled about. Ravens have figured out that people toss their fast food garbage into the trashcan, and so the birds hop into the trashcan and take out bags and boxes, then open the box or wrapper to eat the prize, inside. And, of course, they don't bother putting the trash back inside. :D
For the hike, I walked in a counterclockwise direction. Impressive rock structures all over. Relatively dense Joshua tree growth, too.
Every now and then, my phone buzzed, and Alltrails told me I was off-track. Not really much of an issue, when you're just wandering. But I did use the app to find the actual hall, which is a narrow gap between two large slabs of rock. Actually walking between them would require shimmying under rocks, which I could have done, but opted not to.
More poking around, later. At one point, I reached a place where I would again need to shimmy under boulders. This time, I did go under. Bad decision.
After starting under, and kicking up lots of dust, I realized I was moving over a large collection of rodent droppings and seed husks. So now I have hantavirus on my mind. I'll have to monitor my health for the next few weeks, which will be complicated by the circulation of flu around town. If I do start getting flu-like symptoms, I'll need to go to urgent care and see about testing for hantavirus, too.
Alltrails says I walked 1.1 miles around Hall of Horrors, so 4.3 miles for the day. Pretty short bit of hiking, but at least a decent start to the day, with a significant climb. And, as noted, seventh hike of the year. Staying on track for my target. Hoping I didn't kill myself, in the process. If my blog posts suddenly stop, you'll know why.
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