In a remote area of Joshua Tree National Park, there is a canyon hike that leads up and over a pass before eventually descending down to the Coachella Valley. The hike is not too difficult; the portion I hiked was uphill all the way to my destination.
The canyon contains many historic relics and sites, mostly from the area's mining past. The main area of interest was once a large water storage area, and the concrete tanks remain. There are remains of piping along the canyon above and below the tank site.
First stop is at a well / tank site where water was stored. It is near the spring source. The spring was once able to provide enough water to supply not only the travelers through the canyon, but also to the Eldorado Mine nine mies away.
The tank site also had a small two-stamp mill that service many of the local mines, including the Eldorado Mine before its mill was built. For reasons unknown to me, the site fell into ruin, and Bill Keys bought the stamp mill and moved it to its present location, where it became the Wall Street Mill. The mill is a popular short hike that many visitors to the national park take.
The rain harvesting site was built much later. My initial thought was that it was built by the owners of the tank site to collect more water, but it was actually an NPS project from the 60's. You can find more information on these guzzlers by doing a google search for "Joshua Tree Guzzler Program".
A lot of my information presented in this video is from an explorer's website called Cali49.com. I recommend checking out this site if you are in the Joshua Tree or Mojave desert areas and want to find different place to explore / hike. This site has only had one update since July 2020, but it is still a great resource.
Lastly, this is a hiking video and a large portion of it involves different areas along the hike that I found scenic and/or interesting. The sound of footsteps on the gravel / rocky / sandy hiking surfaces is what you hear when you hike, and therefore hear a lot in this and other hiking videos. You might also hear the wind blowing or an airplane flying overhead. I won't remove that sound; it would be like asking me to remove sounds of birds chirping or water flowing.
Anyway, I digress. I hope you find this and my other videos enjoyable.
The music is by Chris Haugen and is title "Si Senioryita"