Lost Palms Oasis Trail                                                   

See granites, mulitple sets of dikes, and abundant evidence for young faulting

Map Cottonwood Springs 7.5'

Trail Length 7 miles, ~4 hour

Elevation Change +450feet

Difficulty moderate to strenuous

Directions Trailhead at the end of Cottonwood Springs Road, 1.2 miles from intersection with Pinto Basin Road

Description The trail begins at Cottonwood Springs, in a Jurassic biotite granite. As the trail climbs out of the wash and toward the Eagle Mountains, note the abundant fractures in the granite. These fractures record faulting of the granite at some time in the recent past. At about 0.6 miles, the trail splits. The left fork leads toward Mastadon Peak and the Mastadon Mine and circles back to Cottonwood Springs campground; continue straight ahead for the longer trip to the Lost Palms Oasis. Just beyond the 1 mile marker, the trail drops into a wide wash. Explore a few tens of meters off trail to the right (south) to see a steeply south-dipping fault exposed in the wall of the wash. Just before the two mile mark, this fault is seen to cut a northeast-trending porphyry dike. The dacite prophyry dike is several meters thick and steeply-dipping, but ends abruptly at the trail and does not extend to the southwest. Beyond this point the trail drops down into the wash and the fault is well-exposed again in the narrow canyon walls. As you climb out of this wash and head down toward the oasis, note the outcrops of fractured granite along the trail. After a rest at the oasis, return to the trailhead the same way you came.

Touch the image to learn more about rocks and geology along this trail.