Trek date: November 25, 2017

Roughly two miles in a little over one hour.

Ok, so after hearing about an area in JTree referred to as the "Planet X Area," who wouldn't want to hike out there and Xplore? Parking GrayTac at a convenient turnout, I headed into the mystery to see what I could find: Aliens? Planets? X? Follow along my wanderings....

Planet X has big rocks, and the trail there, is marked. I saw no Plymouth Satellite. Ahhhahhahhahh. Ok, that was random.

Heading almost due east from the convenient parking turnout, the first group of boulders to pose for some pictures is known as the "Love Nest." If you so desired to climb the tallest rock, might I suggest either "We Don't Need No Stinking Badges," or "Boys Don't Cry" as your route to the top.

The Love Nest area is reportedly a favorite resting spot for hibernating rattlesnakes; large numbers lurking under the formation. Be careful scrambling in this area, especially during the spring and fall.

The Love Nest, south end.

The Love Nest, south end. With distance.

One of Tom Brody's favorite Heart Rocks. I neglected to get a shot of this from the other side, which I believe looks more hearty.

Grumpy Gus.

The tall one at the right is known as Planet X Spire or Planet X Pinnacle. It attracts rock climbers and eats them.

Leave it to Saddle Rock to photobomb this shot of the backside of Planet X Spire.

I'm going to call that blob on the right, The Blob.

Even after seeing many such examples, I'm still amazed at how the boulders can have those perfectly flat surfaces, like the boulder on the left. It's like someone sliced out a chunk.

The crack of doom?

Can you spot the Illicit Sweetie? How about The Halfing? And neither of those refer to the rock climber sitting on top.

The famous Planet X boulder.

Enjoying the view.

Tranquility Cove.

This reminds me of geometry.

Is it just me that sees faces everywhere?

My parting shot as I headed back to GrayTac. I'm not sure which galaxy Planet X is located in, but it was fun exploring.

It was a great day to hike about the boulders, if any of my photos capture your interest, feel free to right click and download them for your personal use. No charge, no fee, no muss, no fuss. Free the pixels. #FreePixels

For even more photos of the area, check out Murbachi's page at joshuatree3d.com by clicking HERE.