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Climb Ryan Mountain for a comprehensive view of Joshua Tree National Park and environs.

Elongated Ryan Mountain rises above the boulder-studded plains of Lost Horse and Queen Valleys in Joshua Tree National Monument. The view from the top is arguably the best in the national park, encompassing the blocky summits of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio, the intricately dissected Wonderland of Rocks, and a succession of shimmering basins and skeletal mountain ranges stretching east toward the Colorado River and south toward Baja California. The 1.5-mile trail from the mountain's base to its top is well worn, yet steep and rocky enough to be a hazard for young children (and others) prone to tripping or stumbling.

Your hike begins at the Ryan Mountain parking area, on Park Boulevard one mile west of the entrance to Sheep Pass Group Camp. Starting from the town of Joshua Tree, you can drive 17 miles southeast on Park Boulevard to reach this point.

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The trail takes you straightforwardly uphill along the north and west flanks of the mountain, amid scattered juniper and pinyon pine. Very soon, the geologic character of the rock underfoot changes. You cross the boundary between the White Tank monzogranite, the same rock you see exposed in boulder piles in the valleys below, and the Pinto gneiss, a much older rock into which the monzogranite rock was intruded some 130 million years ago. The Pinto gneiss, which is foliated with layers of dark minerals, was metamorphosed (changed by heat and pressure) around 1.5 billion years ago, during an era when life on Earth consisted of nothing more than one-celled organisms.

If you can swing it, try a morning-twilight ascent of Ryan Mountain in the late fall or early winter. As the sun rises, look down and watch the interplay of light and shadow across the Joshua-tree dotted plains and on the monzogranite boulder piles, which rise like battlements out of the alluvium.

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Elongated Ryan Mountain rises above the boulder-studded plains of Lost Horse and Queen Valleys in Joshua Tree National Monument. The view from the top is arguably the best in the national park, encompassing the blocky summits of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio, the intricately dissected Wonderland of Rocks, and a succession of shimmering basins and skeletal mountain ranges stretching east toward the Colorado River and south toward Baja California. The 1.5-mile trail from the mountain's base to its top is well worn, yet steep and rocky enough to be a hazard for young children (and others) prone to tripping or stumbling.

Your hike begins at the Ryan Mountain parking area, on Park Boulevard one mile west of the entrance to Sheep Pass Group Camp. Starting from the town of Joshua Tree, you can drive 17 miles southeast on Park Boulevard to reach this point.

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The trail takes you straightforwardly uphill along the north and west flanks of the mountain, amid scattered juniper and pinyon pine. Very soon, the geologic character of the rock underfoot changes. You cross the boundary between the White Tank monzogranite, the same rock you see exposed in boulder piles in the valleys below, and the Pinto gneiss, a much older rock into which the monzogranite rock was intruded some 130 million years ago. The Pinto gneiss, which is foliated with layers of dark minerals, was metamorphosed (changed by heat and pressure) around 1.5 billion years ago, during an era when life on Earth consisted of nothing more than one-celled organisms.

If you can swing it, try a morning-twilight ascent of Ryan Mountain in the late fall or early winter. As the sun rises, look down and watch the interplay of light and shadow across the Joshua-tree dotted plains and on the monzogranite boulder piles, which rise like battlements out of the alluvium.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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