Quail Springs - Joshua Tree National Park

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Quail Springs - Joshua Tree National Park

Sure, I started out strong and in the right direction. I knew that the spot I was looking for was up a canyon, along a wash, just a walk in the park. Unless you miss the wash coming down from that canyon over there, just as you round the corner of that mountain on the north and then continue down the main drainage until you get to the next big wash coming down from the south and then climb a rise to look around and realize that you've hiked way too far.

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Return to Samuelson's Rocks - Joshua Tree National Park

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Return to Samuelson's Rocks - Joshua Tree National Park

The weather was perfect, the air was crisp and clean, my parking spot was open and the desert sand was scrunchy. Gathering my possibles, I set out to see what I could find on the way to Samuelson's Rocks.

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Quail Springs Valley Pumphouse - Joshua Tree National Park

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Quail Springs Valley Pumphouse - Joshua Tree National Park

The parking area at Quail Springs is also a great spot to stage a hike out into the desert, because the desert holds many secrets, and Quail Springs Valley guards them closely. Have you been to the White Cliffs of Dover? Have you seen the Desert Gold of lost mining camps? Perhaps you've heard of John Samuelson's Rocks? Or the famous Boy Scout Trail? All these and many other amazing secret and some not-so-secret places can be visited in the Quail Springs vicinity.

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On the Rocks - Quail Springs Area

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On the Rocks - Quail Springs Area

My first visit to Joshua Tree National Park must have been in the late '60s, (that's 1960s, not 1860s). Friends of my parents took me camping and we stayed at Jumbo Rocks campground. I think what fascinated me about the Monument then and which still does in the Park today, is the same thing which drew in over 1.6 million visitors to the park last year. The Rocks. Put simply, the rocks rock.

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