Crown Prince Return Visit

Wow, hard to believe... last post of 2020! I don't know about your, but I'm looking forward to a new and improved 2021!! For today's adventure, we are heading to an area of Joshua Tree National Park that sees only light foot traffic. The few people that hike into this area are likely looking for the Crown Prince Lookout, which I've posted about here and here. The Lookout is fascinating because it was used as an enemy aircraft warning station during WW2, and the views are gorgeous.

We will visit the Lookout today, but that's not the goal of the hike. I've spotted some interesting looking rocks on Google Earth that I want to check out. I'm hoping to get lucky and find some signs of Native American habitation. It's below (south) of the Lookout, and it's an area rarely visited. I'm keeping the location vague on purpose. On my visits to the Crown Prince, I often look down to the area below the Lookout and think "one of these days." Well, I guess today is the day!

 

It's a fairly easy hike to get to the Crown Prince Lookout. Many consider the rocky climb in the photo above to be the most challenging part of the hike. Interesting that when this area was used as a military lookout (active from Feb. 1943 - Oct. 1943), stairs were constructed to make the climb easy.

Ya, that would certainly make things easier! I found this photo in Kevin Powell's excellent book 40 Classic Day Hikes of Joshua Tree National Park. In his book, he gives photo credit to the National Park Service. There was reportedly a trailer kept somewhere below the stairs for the volunteers to sleep in when they weren't on duty. I've never seen a photo of the trailer.

 Weird concrete block on top of the Crown Prince Lookout. I'm sure this had some function back in the day when the military was using this spot as a lookout.

Nice view. I never knew you could see the Wonderland of Rocks from here! I lugged my big, heavy telephoto lens with me today, so I might as well get some use out of it. I would guesstimate this to be about 10 miles.

An old tie-down located on top of the Lookout.

Leaving the Lookout and continuing on our journey, I was curious to see if this rock labyrinth was still in place. I came across it a few years back and reported it to the Park Service. They said they would remove it, but that obviously didn't happen. That's OK with me. I think it's pretty interesting.
 

Not far from here, you can see some old mine tailings and there are supposedly two small mine shafts. The challenge is they are hidden in the boulders and difficult to find. I found one some years ago, but it was full of bees, so I couldn't explore it.

After some searching, I was able to find it again, and this time, no sign of bees. This is the view from outside looking in. 

From inside looking out. It's just a shallow mine that likely didn't produce much, but interesting anyway. To think someone dug this out with a pic is mind-boggling!
 

I searched for the second mine, but was unable to find it. But a nice bonus to the hike was finding these pottery sherds! I was careful to put them back exactly where I found them before moving on.

 

Fish head?

The area has classic desert beauty and wonderful rock formations. As I was hiking down a steep hillside, I heard the distinct sound that sounds like nothing else on earth... rattlesnake! He slithered away quickly as I looked frantically around trying to spot him and hoping I wasn't stepping toward him or on him. He lodged himself in the roots and branches of a creosote bush, so no chance for a clear photo. I changed to my telephoto lens and this is the best I could do. 

Close crop showing the eye of the rattlesnake and his tongue darting out. I was keeping a safe distance. I never knew rattlesnakes could have blue eyes!!

View (looking north) of the Crown Prince Lookout

Bingo!! This is the cluster of rocks that I was hoping to find today, and my heart was beating faster as I noticed a large opening under the rock that might indicate a shelter.

 

The shelter is small but plenty of room if you're sitting. I saw no sign of rock art, but the placement of the boulders is interesting. Someone, either in recent times or distant times, had cleared the rocks out of the shelter. There's also an area that looks like an old fire ring, but no sign of soot on the rocks above. 

 

A second shelter very close to the first. Within this shelter there is something that looks suspiciously like a grinding stone. That's a fun find!

Interesting rocks very close to the shelters and part of the rock cluster that makes up this site. Again, I saw no rock art. Either none here or it's faded away over the years. But this area definitely has that "feel" to it. I was excited to find it, and I've never seen photos of it, so I don't think people are aware of this site.
 

Yawning dog? Howling at the moon??

I still had a lot of exploring to do, but I could check off the primary objective of my hike and just focus on taking pictures. I'll stop yakking and let the photos speak for themselves.

Wishing everyone a Happier New Year for 2021!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Stay safe and stay healthy!