Photo Essay: Joshua Tree's Pine City

After my tour of Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park, I wanted to see as much as I could, under threat of a government shutdown and the anticipated resulting closure of the national parks. (Thankfully, that didn't happen.) So I embarked on a couple of short, easy hikes to the Desert Queen Mine, and the old mining camp of Pine City [click for map].



The trail out to Pine City looks like much of the rest of the park.



Until you hit a wall of rocks, behind which lies Pine City.





There's not much left to Pine City except the remarkably dense population of pinyon pines...





...and pinecones strewn about.



You can see a couple old stone walls or foundations...





It is about as abandoned as it gets in Joshua Tree.

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