ABOUT THE ROUTE:

The hike starts at the historic corral at milepost 8 on Walking Box Ranch Road. The corral is adjacent to the north side of the Walking Box Ranch Road and there is ample parking. Historically, corrals were fenced-in areas used to hold livestock, for sorting, feeding, or temporary holding. At the north end of the corral, a one lane backcountry road takes off straight north up the gentle slopes of the New York Mountains. The trail is along that road. The road is not a designated route by the Bureau of Land Management so there is no road noise from passing cars which gives hikers a chance to enjoy quiet solitude. 

You first enter a beautiful Joshua Tree woodland habitat with a very rich understory. Other than Joshau trees, the most common plant species found along this section of the trail are Mojave yucca, banana yucca, blackbrush, Mormon tea, indigo bush, buckhorn cholla, white bursage, bunch grass, barrel cactus, prickly pear cactus. strawberry hedgehog cactus, and pincushion cactus.

At mile 0.2, you can see several different grass species underneath the Joshua Tree and yucca canopy. Unlike some of the west Mojave Desert where winter rainfall predominates, these east Mojave highlands have a bimodal rain distribution with a precipitation peak in both the winter and summer. The bimodal rainfall, including summer monsoonal thunderstorms, also shapes plant communities, creating a unique ecology that sweeps across the higher elevations. This area receives the tail ends of summer monsoonal precipitation which travels north from the Gulf of Mexico. This summer precipitation supports C4 grasses like black grama grass and big galleta grass. These grasses, adapted to growing during the hot desert summers, thrive on summer rainfall and can green-up overnight. 

The area adjacent to the trail is an important corridor for Desert Bighorn Sheep. The sheep migrate through the New York Mountains from the Castle and Piute Mountains to the south. These agile animals are well adapted to the area’s dry environment, going for several weeks without water while living mostly off grasses and, sometimes, cacti. The bighorns' concave hooves allow them to climb steep, rocky desert mountains quickly and easily, helping them escape predators such as mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats. 

When you reach 0.6 miles, you first start seeing the impacts of the York Fire on the west side of the road. The east side of the road was not impacted by the fire, so this gives hikers a good perspective about the impacts of intense fire in this fragile desert environment. 

Most anthropologists say that native people historically used ground fires, cutting off lower branches of Joshua and other trees to keep fires small and managed. Yet, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when native people were forced onto reservations or moved away from traditional villages to work for wages, these practices became increasingly impracticable. Native fires, and most large fires, came to a halt in this part of the East Mojave Desert between 1890 and present as fires have been suppressed whenever possible as implementation of prescribed management fires has been slow to take off. 

This human caused fire occurred in July/August of 2023 and burned 93,078 acres, mostly in the Mojave National Preserve and the Castle Mountains National Monument, but also 9,127 acres within the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. The York Fire story fit into narratives about Nevada’s “new normal” under climate change. The predictions of longer and more intense fire seasons elsewhere in Nevada are beginning to look true for the desert as well. Over the past several years, two massive fires --the 2020 Dome Fire and 2023 York Fire--ravaged the East Mojave Desert, killing an estimated 2.5 million Joshua trees. An area that used to be one of the densest Joshua tree forests in the world is now filled with charred trees. The news stories have revolved around the Joshua tree as a symbol of what would be lost under the new fire regime. 

Joshua trees are a keystone species, which means that many rare creatures could not make their homes in the desert without them. They allow rare beetles to burrow and often provide the only perch around for bird species like the great horned owl. Losing them threatens not only the ecosystem but also the character of the desert.

Unfortunately, areas impacted by the York fire are expected to face serious challenges to natural recovery and may take many decades to regrow. Ideally, a burned area will recover naturally, but this is not always the case. Human-caused challenges like historic fire suppression and climate change have made natural recovery less likely in many burned areas, including the York Fire footprint. Unlike some ecosystems, desert plants do not need fire to reproduce and most are highly susceptible to fire. Shallow roots are easily burned and seeds lying on the ground waiting to germinate are destroyed.

Joshua trees, like many desert plant species, struggle to recover from wildfires. In some cases, Joshua trees can survive fires. But on the whole, they are not adapted to wildfires. They have a really high mortality during wildfires, especially the Eastern Joshua tree found in the York Fire footprint. Eastern Joshua Trees branch closer to the ground and are less likely to sprout from their root systems. 

Research is saying that if an individual Joshua tree has more than 30% of its above-ground material scorched, there is only a 30% chance it will survive. Research also is finding that Joshua trees can survive if only the top third of the plant is burned. Even small shrubs like blackbrush may require 50 years to return to a burned area. Non-native grasses are also able to quickly recover after a fire and are usurping the habitat of native grasses. A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team worked with land managers to create a post-fire restoration treatment plan for the York fire. 

At mile 1.2 the trail crosses a small wash, and you start getting some scattered large juniper trees and some mesquite trees. There are also a variety of cacti species. Barrel cacti are particularly abundant on the hillsides adjacent to the east side of the road. You will also notice that some of the rocks have colorful growths on them. You are seeing lichens: a combination of fungus and algae (and sometimes cyanobacteria). They live together in a symbiotic relationship that is beneficial to all; the algae photosynthesize and makes food for the fungus, while the fungus gives structure and form for the algae. Although lichens look like moss, neither fungus nor algae are considered plants and are in their own kingdoms.  Lichens are nonvascular and do not have roots, stems, or leaves.  In the desert, the whole lichen goes dormant when conditions become too harsh, but it will revive with good rain. Lichens can take a myriad of shapes, from flat and bumpy to thick and frilly, and can have different colors.  

Mile 2.2 is the end of the trail as that is where the old backcountry road ends. However, you can continue to hike further up the wash environment. There are some large junipers in the wash and adjacent hillsides and abundant desert needlegrass which is a perennial bunchgrass, known for its attractive plumy appearance. There are also some goldenbush in this area. Because the peak of the bright yellow blooms occurs after most of the flowers, goldenbush is important as a nectar source for insects and a hunting ground for predatory spiders and insects. Birds and smaller mammals eat the berries. The berries are edible by humans and can be eaten fresh, cooked, or ground into a meal. They can also be used to make teas. Native people baked the berries into bread, stewed with meats, raw or roasted. Juniper were also used by indigenous people for ceremonial purposes to purify body, mind, and spirit.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:

Be sure to take plenty of drinking water. Staying hydrated on your hike is of utmost importance. There is no water available along the trail. In the hot summer months, temperatures can reach over100 degrees, even though the hike is at an elevation over 4,000 feet. On a hot day, you should be drinking 1 quart of water per hour of hiking. When half of your water is gone when hiking, turn around and head back. Drinking water before hiking can help reduce the risk of dehydration, as well as drinking during the hike (don't wait until you feel thirsty). Bring electrolyte replacements such as sports drinks or salty snacks. Bodies not only suffer from lack of water, but lack of sodium electrolytes as well. 

Remember this is a remote area and cellular service is spotty. There are no services so make sure to fill up with gas before heading out and make sure your vehicle is in good operational condition with a full-size spare tire and a jack.