“There are times occasionally in life when great changes occur, and then nothing is ever the same again. Things never just stay the same anytime. Change seems to be one of the certainties in life… just as well. But while we look forward eagerly to what is to come, we can thoughtfully appreciate the good that has been and what we have at the moment.”
~Ester Morganson from “The Last Season”
Joshua Tree National Park is located in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts of Southern California and is a perfect destination when it is cooler in the fall, winter or spring. Step off the main highway that is loaded with people and cars and remote desert wilderness is yours. However, it is primarily waterless. For the backpacker, this means hauling extra water which is very heavy or caching water along the way. Luckily, placing a water cache is legal in Joshua Tree. My hiking friend, Michelle and I put together a Joshua Tree 3 Peaks Backpack. It is a 3 day new route featuring a little trail walking, cross-country travel, road walking, climbing 3 peaks and 3 water caches.
We used the program CalTopo to map it out and print maps. We then uploaded our route to Gaia GPS on our phones. The trip did have more road walking than I prefer, but the peak climbs made up for it. It was diverse, interesting, scenic, challenging, and fun.
Video highlights from the trip:
Joshua Tree 3 Peaks Backpack Details
TRIP DATE November 22-24, 2020
LENGTH 47 miles
ELEVATION GAIN 7,516′
TRAILHEAD Begin and end at Upper Covington Flats Trailhead
DIFFICULTY Moderate to difficult on maintained trail and off-trail travel
NAVIGATION Printed maps and compass, GPS track on phone
BEST TIME TO HIKE Spring, Fall, Winter
WATER No natural water sources. Placed 3 water caches before trip.
PERMITS Board sign-in at trailhead, no formal permit required.
CELL SERVICE Top of Ryan, Queen, and Quail mountains
RESOURCES AND LINKS Joshua Tree National Park Backcountry Information Page,
Joshua Tree Tom Harrison Map, Joshua Tree National Park (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)
Map | GPS
Click blue “Open in CalTopo” in upper right hand corner of map to view and download GPX.
Pre-trip
Michelle and I drove to Joshua Tree and placed 3 water caches the evening before our trip. At each location we placed 1 gallon per person labeled with hiker name and estimated date of pick-up under near by bushes. I like using Crystal Geyser brand of water bottles. They are inexpensive, smash easily, very lightweight, and have a small plastic handle that makes it very easy to carry them on a backpack. All locations are accessible by 2 wheel drive cars.
Cache locations :
- Ryan Mountain Trailhead, Queen Mountain Trailhead, Quail Spring Day Use Area
Day 1 – Upper Covington Flats Trailhead to Queen Valley
19.6 miles
Day 1 was a huge success and included both an incredible sunrise and sunset plus a climb up Ryan Peak. I have a new Suunto Ambit3 Peak watch highly recommended that gives all sorts of interesting stats about our hiking day. Apparently we hiked 19.6 miles with 2,556 elevation gain and 3,031 descent.
Our route started at Upper Covington Flats Trailhead to Ryan Peak, then cross-country to below Queen Peak. Man is it a challenge getting camp setup before 4:45 pm when it gets very dark and cold. More importantly it is tough staying awake past 6:30pm! Lots of horizontal time!
Photos of Day 1:
Day 2 – Queen Valley to Entrance of Johnny Lange Canyon
15 miles
Today started off with a fun and scenic climb up Queen Mountain. Highly recommended!
After the travel cross-country through Queen Valley to Barker Dam, the day digressed with flat dirt road walking, lots of people, and some circumnavigation around private property.
Highlights of the day: helicopter flying very close while we were on the summit of Queen, luxury of throwing water cache bottles in recycling bins, and Michelle and I both had the best 11 hour sleep last night. I wish sound sleep like that happened more often when I backpack.
We camped at the entrance of Johnny Lange Canyon hoping to have a warmer night.
Photos of Day 2:
Day 3 – Johnny Lange Canyon to Upper Covington Flats Trailhead
12.8 miles
It has been cold every night. Michelle had ice on her beanie when she woke up this morning and my water was partly frozen.
Today was our final day and a grand finish. Our route headed up Johnny Lange Canyon to the top of Quail Mountain, then down to the California Riding and Hiking Trail, ending our big loop at Upper Covington Flat Trailhead. We didn’t see a single human today until a 1/4 mile from the end. Pretty cool for a park as busy as Joshua Tree.
Our 45 mile with 7,516 elevation gain on trail, cross-country and 3 peaks route actually went well. We both had trouble with the long road walks to connect the peaks we climbed and the massive crowds at the road crossings where we cached water. But all in all it was a great trek and I got to climb a peak a day and that always makes me happy.
Photos from Day 3:
Trip Gear & Food
Gear I add to my regular lightweight kit for colder and possibly wetter Fall/Winter/Spring backpack trips:
- SLEEPING PAD | Gossamer Gear Thinlight Pad
- WATERPROOF GLOVES | Showa 282 Temres Insulated Gloves
- GLOVES | Outdoor Research PL400 Sensor Gloves
- RAIN PANTS | Montbell Versalite Mens Size Small
- BEANIE
- DOWN PANTS | Winter Warm packable Down Pants
- DOWN BOOTIES | Tapasime Down Booties
- FLEECE | Patagonia R1 Pullover
New trail food I am loving:
- Split Almond Butter/Raspberry Spread Packets
- Poshi Vegetable Packets | Asparagus, Aritchokes, French Beans
- RX Nut Butter Packets
Photo | Video
Additional Trips in Joshua Tree National Park
- Joshua Tree National Park – Lost Palms Oasis Trail Day Hike
- Joshua Tree National Park – Smith Water Canyon to Quail Mountain Backpack
- Joshua Tree National Park – Rock Climbing
- Joshua Tree National Park -Boy Scout Trail to Rattlesnake Canyon Backpack
If you hike this route, tag @christyrosander on Instagram and use the hashtag #ladyonarock so I can take a look!
Happy Adventuring!
Thanks for this great route! I did it a few weeks ago, and wrote up a trip report with my thoughts over on Reddit. With the isolation, this was a perfect, Covid-compliant getaway.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/lttb4q/three_days_three_caches_three_peaks_a_delightful/?
Thanks Alex for the very detailed write up! I have to admit I have never been on Reddit. It is a whole other world. You are with a fine group of hikers that have hiked this route or a modified/extended version. Thank you also for the credit of the route. This really makes my day. Best to you on your upcoming trips.
thanks for posting this trip. I did a shorter version of this dec 29/30th and had a blast, started at ryan mountain campground, did Quail Mtn, headed down Johnny Lang Canyon (super awesome), stealth camped close to barker dam area, then did queen and ryan the next day to finish the loop.
thanks for inspiring this trip.
Thank you for sharing. Sounds like a great trip. I have a friend that is hiking in Joshua Tree now and is extending the loop in my post adding the length of the California Riding and Hiking Trail. She had a great weather window to complete it.
All of the Wonderland of Rocks (where Barker Dam is) is day-use only, to protect the native bighorn sheep that make their home there. Since you said you stealth camped there, I assume you knew that (which makes it worse). Please don’t encourage others in the same human-centric behavior.
Good to know about the wonderland of rocks area, that’s useful info.
I was actually a half mile south west of Wall Street mill, south of the road. I think that’s fair game for camping, I was stealth bc I could see the road to the north.
No, still working on my hikingcentric novel, Trail Town. Hope to make much progress in 2021. You will be among the first to get a signed copy. Meanwhile, remember that walking slowly through the wilderness is a sublime form of laziness.
Well sounds like you have some work to do! We have a bit in common, don’t we? I will be looking to my mailbox…
I will have to use that quote SOMEDAY!
“Walking slowly through the wilderness is a sublime form of laziness.”
~Richard Judy
So so good hearing from you. 🙂
Glad You’re back in action girl. I am sick of sequestering here in Georgia. Hoping to get jabbed in the arm before long so I can do Scotland’s West Highland Way next May.
Ya, it has been bugging me for way too long. Thank you for the encouragement! My goal is to post once a week until I am caught up on important trips and gear stuff.
Sooooo…..I did I miss the release of a new book?