Joshua Tree's Ryan Mountain
Number 4 of 70--April 17, 2023
After a week of solo hiking and camping in southern Utah, a place I can never seem to get enough of, it was time to steer toward California. I'd arranged to pick up a few items there for transport, a paid part-time gig I'd been dabbling in to help offset the expense of adventuring far from home. In fact, I thought I might win a bid to take a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff from Vegas to Palm Springs, whereupon I would explore the hills there for the first time. But alas, no deal. So, poor me, I had to settle instead for a minor diversion to Joshua Tree National Park.
I've hiked and camped in this splendid park a few times already, but now I had a case of summit fever to boot. Surely, there must be something worthy I could schlepp up in the half-day or so that I had to spare. And indeed there was: Ryan Mountain, just off the main east-west boulevard through the park.
It didn't seem all that tantalizing from the road, but as is often the case, I found the doing of the thing to be quite enjoyable, and much more scenic than I'd imagined. Though it was only about three miles round trip with a 1,000-foot elevation gain, I savored it all and lingered atop my fourth summit in comfortable spring sunshine. A handful of other hikers had a similar idea.
Ryan was also a chance to check in on my own conditioning status. As a rule of thumb, one can assume a good hiking pace (without a heavy pack) is around 20 minutes per mile on flat ground. Add to that another 20 minutes for each 1,000 feet of elevation gain. So an approximate elapsed time from the trailhead to Ryan's summit should be around 30 minutes for the mile and a half of hiking, plus another 20 minutes for the 1,000-foot gain--50 minutes total. I reached the top in 46 minutes without pushing it. Good enough. The next test will be to maintain that pace over a 3,000 to 4,000-foot climb, then later perhaps, 5,000 feet when it's 85 degrees out. I'm ready and eager. So c'mon summer!
Now, normally I wouldn't be boasting about these wee hikes--my first four summits were all pretty easy. But since I make up the rules for my 70 summits quest and still need to knock out 66 more this year, I won't be shy about counting them. And Ryan Mountain gets an extra gold star for showing me the way to a very fine vista, not to mention a rather colorful collared lizard who patiently posed for me on a rock.
