Robby’s Ridge & Darwin Canyon

Keys View

Keys View is the highest road in Joshua Tree National Park at 5187′. After hiking we drove up to check it out. Panoramic views of the Coachella Valley spread out below and we snapped a couple pictures. There was a bit of snow on Mt San Jacinto and Mt San Gorgonio which made them stand out against all the brown. The spot is named after the colorful character Bill Keys. Keys was a caretaker for the Desert Queen Mine, murdered a man, ran stamp mills for other miners, farmed, raised cattle, built five dams out of the local stone, improved upon existing dams, and built roads. Wow!

Rocks!

On our way down from Keys View we stopped and hiked around a bunch of interesting rock formations. Oh, and we stopped and looked at the Cholla Cactus Garden. They go as far as you can see!

Robby’s Ridge & Darwin Canyon Hike

Under dark threatening skies and high winds, we picked to do a shorter hike that would have us more protected from the blasting wind at camp. Rain wasn’t actually in the forecast but the clouds were moving fast and looked ominous. Our hike was 4.8 miles and pretty fast going.

We hiked up a canyon and did a bit of free hiking to get up on Robby’s Ridge, The views over to the Orocopia Mountains were intriguing and look like they could hold quite a few adventures. It got pretty breezy up on the ridge and I felt a drop or two but we were back down in the canyon in time for the “storm” to move on and the hot sun to come back out.