Ryan Mountain, Joshua Tree National Park

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
12/29/2017	3 miles

Map: National Geographic Joshua Tree Map
Guide book: Hiking Joshua Tree National Park, a Falcon Guide
Directions: Hike #22 in guide book, Ryan Mountain

We decided to do Ryan Mountain as our first hike of the day, so we wouldn't have to struggle with parking. We arrived at 8 am, and the parking lot was just about full. It was cold out, around 39 degrees to start. I was brave and didn't put on my puffy, even though I hate starting out cold. But I knew it would be 1.5 miles uphill and I'd warm up soon enough. I did wear gloves though. I packed 2 liters of water, which might have been overkill. This is a busy hike. It was a little hard to get off the trail to pee (ugh, too much coffee in the morning) - way too many people, and most of the time the trail is cut into the side of the mountain, so you can't even get off the trail. The footing was really good. There were a lot of stone steps, which helped, as the trail is somewhat steep at times. Navigation is trivial.

There were good views at the top, but it was really, really crowded, with a group of 25 or so young men from the local military base. We sat at the top and practiced map and compass skills, working on figuring out what we were looking at. Overall, a nice hike, but best to try to do it when its less busy (not sure when that would be).

Next up......Lucky Boy Loop