Queen Of The Desert Full Movie

[Kayleen Dauteuil]

TheDesert Queen Mine hike is a cool one; you can actually touch and explore the ruins of a mine that dates back to the 1890s and has a rich story involving cattle rustlers and gunfights of the Old West. And of course, you can enjoy all the natural beauty of Joshua Tree at the same time. If you're feeling adventurous, I highly recommend the optional extended hike to Eagle Cliff Mine, a remote mine and rock cabin perched above a beautiful overlook.

The trailhead is in a smallish parking lot at the end of Desert Queen Mine Rd, a dirt road off of the main Park Blvd. The trailhead road is dirt but you can do it in a regular low-clearance car. There are also signs on Park Blvd for the Desert Queen Mine turnoff. Use this trailhead address:

Desert Queen Mine Rd, Twentynine Palms, CA, 92277, USA

If you have light hiking gear, that will serve you best at Desert Queen. Hiking boots with cuffs will help keep the debris out of your feet. That said, this is a short hike and you can get away with fitness or casual clothes in a pinch. Bring at least 1L of water and sun protection; you are hiking in the desert.

From here you can either continue on to Eagle Cliff Mine (more below) or return the way you came. If you want to return and explore more ruins, follow the yellow path on the map above for the alternate way back.

If you want to continue on to the remote Eagle Cliff Mine and boulder house, follow the directions below. The trail isn't as defined as the first part of the hike, so having a GPS with the GPX track loaded is helpful.

There is a very special place here at Eagle Cliff Mine, an old miner's cabin built into the boulders called the Boulder House. I hesitated to include this hike on the website because I've seen items stolen from the cabin over the years, and it's sad. But if you don't find the directions here, you'll find them somewhere else, so I have the directions with a small request. As a HikingGuy reader, I'm guessing you probably know this already, but if you're new to the site (and/or hiking), please don't touch, move, or take anything from the cabin. You'll have to poke around to find the Boulder House, and this is what it looks like.

Hi, I'm Cris Hazzard, aka Hiking Guy, a professional outdoors guide, hiking expert, and author based in Southern California. I created this website to share all the great hikes I do with everyone else out there. This site is different because it gives detailed directions that even the beginning hiker can follow. I also share what hiking gear works and doesn't so you don't waste money. I don't do sponsored or promoted content; I share only the gear recommendations, hikes, and tips that I would with my family and friends. If you like the website and YouTube channel, please support these free guides (I couldn't do it without folks like you!). You can stay up to date with my new guides by following me on YouTube, Instagram, or by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.

It was a beautiful morning for a hike in J Tree and the destination was the Desert Queen Mine. Even though most of the machinery, artifacts and buildings that were part of the mining operations are long gone, the lure of an old gold mine is still strong. Be sure to check out Murbachi's Desert Queen Mine page for some awesome 3D images, in several different formats. Click HERE to jump over THERE.

Most of the trail to the Desert Queen Mine follows the old mining road. From the parking area at the Pine City backcountry board, it only takes a few minutes to reach a viewpoint on the edge of a cliff that overlooks most of the Desert Queen Mine workings. There's an old winch still sitting at this spot, that was once used to transport ore across the canyon.

The view from up here is great. Look at all the mine workings. The wash immediately below this overlook is called "Gold Dust Gulch," which seems fitting enough. If you follow it downstream to the east, you'll eventually reach John's Camp and on the way you'll see this interesting sight. But that's from a hike on different day. Click HERE to read about where this old car is and the neat Boulder Cabin nearby.

Heading back south from the overlook, there's another relic from the days of J Tree gold, one of two old cyanide tanks that are still mostly intact, albeit full of bullet holes. Cyanide was used to extract gold from low-grade ore that had been reduced to a slushy slurry. It was a nasty business and could prove deadly.

From this point, there are a couple ways to get down to Gold Dust Gulch; the zig-zag 'trail' that leads almost directly down into the wash, or the old mine road that was once used by the miners. These days, my choice is the old mine road, for two reasons. There's neat stuff to see along the way, and it's a lot safer.

One of my favorite spots along this hike are the stone ruins of what was probably a home/bunkhouse/office type of building. The stone foundations show that there were perhaps as many as five rooms in this structure. The ruins are right on the old road at the point where it starts heading down towards the wash.

There are two small openings in the front wall of the cabin, which I'm pretty sure were for protection, as they look like rifle slots to me. Perhaps gold ore was stored in the building and these opening were used to take care of any varmints trying to sneak up and rob the place.

It's a rocky road on the way to the mines. Murbachi, the prolific 3D photographer, theorizes that the roads were probably filled in with gravel or cobbles back when they were in use. Which makes sense, as to travel along these roads today would certainly endanger any wagon or vehicle to breaking wheels, spokes or axels.

This nice view opens up once the road reaches the west ridge above the wash. That's a big pile of tailings and a great shot of one of the many grates. If you're interested in finding mines to poke into and explore, most of the mines in J Tree will disappoint in that regards. The Park Service has either grated, caved in, closed off or otherwise made entry into the great majority impossible. Which to me is sad, but probably necessary.

Standing in the middle of Gold Dust Gulch. The upper left view is taken looking south, the upper right view taken looking north. Either way, there are places to explore. But as this hike was focusing on the Desert Queen Mine, Murbachi and I headed north to see what we could find.

During a detailed mine survey taken in 1976, the Desert Queen was recorded as having "four large vertical shafts, five inclined shafts, and ten adits, five of which had started caving." Hiking around the area, I think they may have missed a couple. This is the main tailing pile and it is about sixty-five feet tall. That's a lot of rock.

While up on top of the ridge at the beginning of this trek, I had spotted the other cyanide tank and miscellaneous mining debris a little farther north of where these two photos were taken. I had never hiked past this spot on previous trips, and since the day was young, I decided to see what I could find around the bend.

Another tunnel leading into solid rock and some bits and pieces of heavy machinery. Up on a ledge, the other cyanide tank. There are also a couple of cement foundations and some low rock retaining walls. Definitely worth the hike around the bend to check out.

Hiking back south in the wash to access the road leading up to the main workings, we passed several very large boulders. This one has some old initials etched into it, apparently by someone with the initials, "I.R." and then a name I couldn't make out. The date stands out plain, 1908. Was this inscribed by one of the early day miners?

The rocky road leading up to the main workings of the Desert Queen Mine. There are several small adits along the road; some are caved in, some go into the sold rock only a few feet. Whatever prompted the exploration in these small tunnels apparently didn't pan out.

An air compressor and reservoir mounted on large wooden beams rests alongside the road, very near the top of the large tailings pile. "Chicago Pnuematic Tool Co." is embossed on one side of the compressor. This must have seen a lot of work during the mines operating years.

Details about the discover and history of the Desert Queen are sketchy, to say the least. There are several stories/legends about who discovered the claim and how it changed hands over the years. Many of the famous names of J Tree's past are linked with the DQ: the McHaney's and Bill Keys among them. Claim jumping, a knife attack, shooting, legal action and murder were all involved. When gold is in play, the stakes are high. By all accounts, the mine began operation in 1895 and had some good runs, some off years, changes of ownership and a lot of work done on improving the mines. At one time there were three redwood cabins used as living quarters at the mine, which Keys tore down after he acquired title to the claims in 1917. He later rebuilt one at his ranch which was used as the family kitchen. The final reported production took place in 1941, but the mine was still worked intermittently from 1948 to 1961. The U.S. Bureau of Mines gives a total production from the DQ of 3,845 ounces of gold. The actual production could have been quite higher, but we will never know.

This last grated shaft in the Desert Queen vicinity is atop the rocky hill that most of the mines explored. It's above and almost due east of what I think was the main tunnel for the DQ. I wonder if this shaft was dug to connect with that tunnel, maybe following another vein or to help ventilate the other workings. It goes straight down, a long way. I've seen people walk out onto these grates, I would definitely advise against that.

This large, split boulder is located near the last shaft. It quietly asked me to take its picture and publish it for the entire world to see, so I obliged. It's known as the "Power Shopping" boulder in the rock climbing world, but I'm going to call it the Golden Claw.

3a8082e126