Weather - Highs in the 70s, lows in the upper 30s

What I brought:

• Clothing

  • Sun shirt

  • Hat

  • Shorts

  • Gaiters

  • Rain jacket (wind jacket)

  • Sweater

  • Camp Clothes

  • 3 Pairs Sock

• Gear

  • Waymark Pack 40L

  • Katabatic Flex 15degree

  • Thermarest X-Therm

  • Sea to Summit Inflatable Pillow

  • Groundsheet

• Food Bag

  • MSR Pocket Rocket

  • Toaks 750mL

  • Snacks and Food

• Toiletries

• Sun Screen

• Chapstick

Challenges -

Logistically, the only challenges were the Point to Point trail and the water caches.

Having a hiking partner with another vehicle made life easier to shuttle so we didn't have to worry about finding a rideshare across the park.

I started with 3Liters of water and we opted for three caches:

1) Upper Covington Flats - To avoid carrying water up the first hill, I cached two gallons of water. This was meant to last me through the night and until we got to the next cache ~12 miles away.

2) Juniper Flats Trailhead - cached 1 gallon because we could. Just wanted to avoid a longer stretch without water. It wasn't a necessary cache, but it did make life a little easier. ~7 miles from the next cache

3) Geology Tour Road - Another 2 Gallon Cache. Again meant to get through the night and through the rest of the trip. ~12 miles from the exit

Make sure to hide your water well! One of our caches ended up getting partially taken. Fortunately, we had more water than we needed so it all worked out in the end.

Day 0 - Friday 11/08 || Meetup and Caches || 0 miles

Made the trek to 29 Palms after work on Friday. Met up with my hiking partner for the weekend, and worked on caching water. We went to the ending trailhead at the North Entrance, packed a vehicle, and started driving through the park. We stopped to set up two caches, one at Geology Tour Road (2 Gallons) and another at Juniper Flats Trailhead (1 Gallon).

We exited the park and camped North of the Park at North Joshua Tree BLM grounds.

Day 1 - Saturday 11/09 || Starting the Trail || 12.5 miles

We got up early and made our way to our last cache location at Upper Covington (2 Gallons). After, we went to Blackrock Canyon Campground before starting the trail at 7:45am. The climb out of Blackrock Canyon is super gradual, but also sandy. Nothing too hard with the climb, but your feet do feel it. Nothing too crazy on the climb up, we made it to Upper Covington, replenished water and had lunch. We set off again, passed the trail to Quail Mountain and ended up setting up camp in a wash at about 3pm. Significantly earlier than I'm used to. Made dinner before it got dark. Stargazing is easy when you cowboy camp, the moon didn't set til after midnight.

Day 2 - Sunday 11/10 || Cruising through the park || 15 miles

The next morning we set off at about 7:45am and started our big climb for the day, a whopping 675' over 1.5 miles. Once we made it through the climb, we were welcomed to Juniper Flats. This was my favorite area of the trip with giant Juniper Bushes and Joshua Trees that looked older than any other ones I had seen in the park. There were great views as well when you looked towards the Northeast. From there, we made it to our second cache that was meant to get us through the Geology Tour Road. We filled up and headed towards Ryan Campground to toss out some trash, use the restroom, and have lunch.

We made it out of the canyon and got to the other side where it felt like the longest part of the hike. The next 2.5 miles didn't have as many views to take in, so it was just a matter of making it to the next spot. Once we got to Geology Tour Road, we found that one of our caches was mostly missing. They took all of my partners water and they also took 1 of my 2 gallons. Luckily, I had enough water from the previous cache so we opted to share the gallon and just hike a little extra to get us closer to the exit. We only went a mile past our initial stopping point, but that was one less mile for the next day. We ended up setting up camp around 3:30pm.

Day 3 - Monday 11/11 || Finishing the Trail || 9 miles

We opted for a slightly earlier start and were on trail by 7:15am. We stopped at Belle Campground to throw out more trash and use the restroom there before continuing on. Once you pass the next road, there are a lot more directional signs to follow. There wasn't all that much to this section. Saw a tarantula, saw all the mile markers were off, and coasted downhill back to the car by 11am.

All in all, it was a really good hike. I enjoyed being able to see some parts of the park that I hadn't seen before.

Some things I would change:

• Foot Care

  • I managed to get blisters for the first time in forever, which I am chalking up to the soft sands that we went through, but nothing was too bad for me.

  • My partners feet were a bit more torn up though so I recommended her Injinji Toe Socks.

  • Bring some mole skin, take care of the hot spots. Anything to prevent painful blisters

• Caches

  • I did bring too much water overall. It did work out in the end.

  • I also forced myself to drink extra water so I didn't have to carry as much. At some points I felt over-hydrated.

  • Hide the water as best you can, just make sure to mark it with GPS coordinates so its easier to find.

• Mileage and Timing

  • This was definitely a trip I would do in 2 days if I were to do it again. I think a pair of 18/19 mile days is the sweet spot for me.

  • The shorter days made us less ambitious for miles, but getting to camp so early made me stir crazy.

  • A week earlier and we would have had an extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon.