Lost Horse Mine Hike in Joshua Tree National Park

Hello, hello!

How was your weekend? Not surprisingly, my whirlwind weekend in Palm Springs just flew by. Without a doubt, my favorite part of the getaway was seeing Joshua Tree National Park for the first time ever. It was about an hour drive from our hotel in the Palm Springs area, and was well worth the trip.

I’ve heard things about Joshua Tree before – mostly tidbits about people walking aimlessly around the park while on acid trips, and after exploring the park, I can totally see why it gets that reputation. Joshua Tree is a huge park in the middle of the desert, full of its namesake tree and crazy big boulders.

People were rock climbing all over the place. I had read that Joshua Tree is one of the most popular rock climbing destinations in the country, and I can see why.

We were expecting it to be pretty hot at the park. Palm Springs’ temperature was in the high-80s on Saturday, but surprisingly, the weather at Joshua Tree Park was cool and breezy. Temps were in the mid-60s and it was actually kind of chilly compared to what we were anticipating. I think this was kind of a weird day weather-wise, as the average high there in May is 95 degrees. In June through September, the average high is around 105 degrees.

I can picture myself feeling slightly delusional if I were to be wandering around a desert sweating my butt off… which is why I was glad we got to explore Joshua Tree Park while the weather was mild!

I had scoped the park’s hiking trails out beforehand to find a hike that’s a good workout with some elevation change without being too challenging in duration. What I decided on was the Lost Horse Mine Trail, a loop that’s between 6-7 miles with a 1200+ ft elevation gain.

Once we got into the park, we drove for a bunch of miles to get to the trailhead. The upside in that was that we felt like we got to see some of the park and scope out some cool bouldering areas en route to the trail. We felt a bit like we were driving into the middle of nowhere, and were a bit surprised to find the little Lost Horse Mine parking lot area full.

As the name implies, the unique thing about the Lost Horse Mine trail is that it’s a historic site with remnants of a mine that produced gold and silver in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Most people that we came across were hiking specifically to the mine, which is found 2 miles into the trail, then heading back the way they came.

In all honesty, I’m not all that much of a history buff, but while hiking around the Lost Horse Mine trail, it was pretty wild imagining what the area was like back in the day during the California Gold Rush era. As per the National Park Service website, “When the story of the Lost Horse Mine is told, it sounds like a western campfire tale: gun slinging cowboys, cattle rustlers, horse thieves, the lure of gold, and a sticky-fingered miner.”

After checking out the mine, we opted to continue to loop around the mountain, where the landscape is not too shabby. I’m not all that impressed by the desert alone, but this mountainous desert is breathtaking!

We later came across a stone chimney, cans and pots, and a broken bed frame along the trail – again, remains of a time when men were living in the middle of nowhere in search of gold.

What I really appreciated about the trail is the simple guidance of strategically placed rocks. There are definitely places where it could have been a little dicey as to which way the actual trail went – especially since the non-trail paths were actually wider than the trail itself in some parts – but thanks to the placement of rocks in various places, it was very clear which path to take. This is the type of thing that’s missing from a lot of hiking trails, which drives me a little crazy since it’s pretty simple for park personnel to do, so nicely done Joshua Tree National Park!

When all was said and done, the hike took us 2 1/2 hours to complete. The trail had some nice hiking incline sections but wasn’t really all that challenging, and towards the end it was more or less just walking and we were ready to get back to our car.

Afterwards, we stopped at some huge boulders to climb around and take in the views more.

On our way out of the park, a coyote ran right across the road in front of us, and we watched him cruise around in the desert for awhile. I love random animal sightings, and was a little surprised to see him just out and about in the middle of the day.

All in all, we had a great afternoon and decidedly found Joshua Tree to be a beautiful place worth visiting.

Tell me… Have you ever been to Joshua Tree Park? What’s the coolest park you’ve ever visited?