Carey's Castle

The hike to Carey's Castle is a bit of a mystery.  At least in the internet age.  I won't post exact directions, but with a little internet search prowess, one can easily find the route.  I was unable to find exact directions from the trailhead to the Castle, but with the GPS coordinates of the Castle and some ever evolving Google Earth skills, I was able to easily trace the route and download it to my Garmin Colorado 450t.

On the topic of the Colorado 450t, I am now learning why it was discontinued.  Several times while on the trail it froze up, causing us to stop and take out the batteries each time to reset it.  Thinking it was fault of some bad batteries, I changed them out, but experienced the same problem with the new lithiums.  It's a respectable GPS and the signal strength is amazing, but the newer touch screen models are surely better options and will soon find their way into my pack.

On to the hike.....finding the trailhead is fairly straightforward, although my wife gets anxiety every time we get off the pavement.  The dirt road is graded and easily passable in a two wheel drive passenger vehicle.  Needless to say, it was a piece of cake for the WK2.  after trying to 4 wheel a little closer than the large parking area, we decided to turn back and park in the large lot as the National Park boundary is not passable in a vehicle.

As we gathered our packs and acclimated to the 50 degree temps with a 15 mph breeze, the stark reality of the landscape took hold.  In typical Joshua Tree N.P. fashion, the jutting granite and semi-high desert vegetation provides a nice backdrop to any day on the trail.

The trail starts out as more of an arid wash as you slowly gain in elevation.  The hike gains elevation all the way to the Castle as you are essentially following a series of canyons and drainages until you reach the Castle.  There are some narrow spots where the canyon comes to within 20 feet wide or maybe a bit less.  Quite a bit of scrambling is required so make sure you have good ankle support and are comfortable using all four limbs to get where you need to go.  On the way down we ran into a group of 3 (the only people we saw all day) and two of the guys were not comfortable bouldering so they kept trying to follow very faint trails around the more difficult areas.  I did not view this as a viable use of time and energy and had they been in my party, I would have made them stash the trekking poles and use their hands.

There are approximately 2-3 forks in the canyon where a decision is needed.  One such spot is obvious as there is a 50 foot dry waterfall that cannot be passed without a rope and the skills necessary to ascend.  The other spot can be a bit confusing, but after making the second turn, the trail levels out and follows a narrow but not deep canyon.

As you approach the Castle, it becomes evident of the existence of humans.   There are some large metal drums surrounding the Castle as well as other debris from a bygone era.   At this point, I found myself wondering what would entice anybody to make a go of it out in the desert.  Apparently there is a road where Mr. Carey would bring his supplies in on, but it enters the Castle from the north side through the Joshua Tree N.P.

If nothing else, Carey was a tough dude who did not fear the isolation of the desert.  He may fear this guy though?

Once inside, I really appreciated the architecture involved in constructing the Castle.  It took quite a bit of stone and concrete to fill in the holes between the rocks to create an enclosure safe from the elements.  There are two windows which allow light into the single room.

Don't forget to sign the trail register

Some leftover artifacts on the shelves.  The ammo box in the corner contains the trail register as well as some poorly placed advertising from some hikers taking advantage of a captive audience.  I found their business cards to be in bad taste.