Pine City is a peaceful area of Joshua Tree National Park. Wildflowers were in bloom when I visited in April, and on my return drive, I spotted a coyote.
The trailhead to Pine City is adjacent to the Desert Queen Mine trail. There is an outhouse nearby and a small parking lot. You have to drive on Desert Queen dirt road to reach this area of the park, but the road is maintained and my little four door sedan handled it fine.The claret cup cactus was one of the show-stopping flowers on display.Tiny paper daisies were scattered across the landscape. Each flower is smaller than a dime.At about one mile, you reach an overlook with the rocks and trees of Pine City. This is a fun and peaceful area to explore.A delicate yellow blossom emerges from a barrel cactus.Its possible to hike down the entire canyon, but you would need someone to pick you up on the other side, near the East Entrance to the park.Beavertail cactus put out a beautiful pink blossom this time of year.No desert hike would be complete without a lizard sighting.You can stay on the Pine City trail for about a 3 mile loop, or if you have extra time, venture off the trail and have a picnic or do some exploring in this serene area.The desert mallow features a paper-thin orange blossom.A fiddleneck poses in the foreground with a purple chia in the distance.Prize for tiniest flower of the day goes to this Fremonts Phacelia. Wow, these things are small!On the return trip, I took a shot of the desert with San Gorgonio in the distance.Back on the main road, I saw more wildflowers and even a coyote (first photo at top).
(When we lived in the Joshua Tree area, I loved hiking and blogging about new places I’d explore. At some point, I changed my blog address, and some of those posts were lost. I’m working on recovering them and adding them back in as fresh content on this site. This one was originally posted April 1, 2016.)
Pinch Of Clay 