Finding Garrett's Arch — To whoever is not listening to the sea

Our trail book poses a challenge to readers: To take an adventure and find your way to Garrett's Arch or The Castle. For our last hike in the park, we chose finding Garrett's Arch, which is supposed to be the highest rock arch in the park. The National Park Service recently closed The Castle due to looting - plus no one was giving up any hints about how to get there. So Garrett's Arch it was!

We did not find the arch on our own...that NEVER would have happened...we pieced together directions from three different bloggers. Still it was fun to navigate our way with the compass and landmarks - which were all large and distinct rock formations. (The arch lies in Wonderland of Rocks, which is some 12 square miles, and a large part of which is in "wilderness area" meaning there are no trails.)

As it turns out, the key to the whole thing is Punk Rock! You just walk north towards it and right across you'll find Three Freaks! You take the second right after Three Freaks - at the Weenie (I didn't make that up), and find the Red Obelisk. Then walk beyond the Obelisk heading east, through a valley and canyon until you spot the arch on the left. (We provide more details below if you happen to visit Joshua Tree and want to do the hike!)

The arch is HIGH UP. The ascent is quite slippery, so Curt only went part way. (We are at the age where it's more important to come back in one piece, than to say we climbed all the way up to an arch.)

The other notable portions of the hike were the cactus. There were more on this hike than any other we had taken to date. And Ohlson's Ranch, where you start and end the hike. It's a beautiful place, and you can see why you'd want to built a home there. However, you can also understand how difficult it must have been to make your way in that remote area in the early 20th century, when that family lived there.

We finished around 11:30am sweating; it was at least 75F and getting hotter. As we left the park, the line of cars waiting to get in stretched father than we had imagined possible! We felt really lucky to have enjoyed so many solitary hikes in beautiful weather during our stay. We left the park feeling grateful, accomplished and ready to move on to the next adventure.

If you are in the area:

The hike is about 2.2-2.5 miles each way. You can find additional directions, which we also recommend reviewing, here, here and here. We spent quite a while familiarizing ourselves with the route prior to setting out...everything looks the same unless you know what you are looking for. We used a compass, and took along pictures of the major landmarks, which was really helpful. We brought a map, but it was of limited use. Of course, we drank a TON of water.

Drive to Barker Dam, but take the dirt road instead of pulling into the Barker Dam parking lot. Take your first left and drive to the Wall Street Mill parking lot.
Start on the trail towards Wall Street Mill, but make your first major left which will take you to Wonderland Ranch. When you see the ranch in front of you look to your left and you'll the find beginning of the wash you'll take to get to the Arch. (You walk to the left of some boulders and wind between some trees).
Your main direction at this point is NORTH. Most of the other bloggers note that you can get lost taking the Wonderland wash, which also heads north, but to the left. So we also made sure we traveled to the right on the wash. We never got confused.
Your first key landmark is the Walrus (on the right of the wash) at around .8 miles.
Then you'll look for Foolproof Tower on the left, which is notable for it's overhang at the top.
Then you should see directly ahead and north of you Punk Rock. Just keep walking towards it. Once you reach Punk Rock, look to your right and you'll see the Three Freaks. (At about 1.5 miles). This signals you are getting ready to turn right to head east.
BUT, don't take your first right after Three Freaks- take your second (no bouldering). You'll know you got it correct when you see at the right front the Weenie.
Walk forward a short distance and you'll see the Red Oblesk.
Walk beyond the Red Oblesk, heading east, but staying north of the rock formations. You'll go through a valley and then into another canyon. Start looking to your left, you'll see the arch.
There are a lot of boulders in front of the arch, which you can sit on to take pictures. The ascent to the arch is slippery and seems pretty dangerous.
Remember, things look different on the way out! Be sure to be looking for Punk Rock and Three Freaks so you don't miss your turn (left) to go back the way you came.

Everything pretty much looks the same, unless you know to look for the landmarks.