Starting along Mastodon Mine Loop Trail from Cottonwood Campground.Entering a wash.View back as the trail exits the wash.Approaching Mastodon Peak.Mastoson Mine.A grated The trail continues up the staircase on the right.Taking a hard left onto a use trail leading to Mastodon Peak.Class 2.Mastodon Peak summit. View west.View east toward Eagle Mountain.Rejoining Mastodon Mine Loop Trail, headed south.Cool split rock formation on the right.Approaching the Lost Palms Oasis Trail junction.Turning left onto Lost Palms Oasis Trail, headed east.Dropping into a wash.The trail undulates as it crosses several arroyos.End of Lost Palms Oasis Trail.Descending a use trail toward Lost Palm Oasis.Lost Palms Oasis.Continuing along Lost Palms Canyon, passing a dozen or so scattered palms marked "Victory Palms" on the topo.Crawling through massive boulders to reach the lower portion of Lost Palms Canyon.Approching the lower terminus of Munsen Canyon on the left.Starting up Munsen Canyon.Approaching Summit Springs Palm Oasis.Weaving through the palms.A short distance away, Munsen Oasis.View back at Munsen Oasis.A house-sized boulder. Staying up high on the right side of the canyon to avoid brush below.An unnamed oasis.Around 3,500 feet, veering right for a subsidiary canyon.Continuing up a subsidiary canyon.Class 3 boulder-hopping.Approaching a second unnamed palm oasis.Dense willow thickets after the second unnamed palm oasis. After a failed bushwhacking attempt, I bypassed the brush by contouring the crumbly slope on the right.After the brushy section, the canyon widens before curving east.View back as I continue to ascend.Starting up a Class 3 chute to exit the canyon.View back from the exit chute.Tricky Class 3 slab.More Class 2/3 obstacles ahead.Above the exit chute, the terrain opens up.Following a wash.Aiming for the saddle along the Eagle Mountain ridgeline, left of center.At the saddle, view back.Gaining the ridge to Eagle Mountain.Eagle Mountain ahead.View back from below the summit of Eagle Mountain.Eagle Mountain summit, occupied by a group of friendly Sierra Club hikers who ascended the standard DPS route that I would use for my descent.View east toward the rest of the Eagle Mountain Range.View north into Pinto Basin.Starting down the northwest ridge.Tailing the group for a while. (It was nice to take a mental break from route finding.)At this plateau, I split off from the group and headed to the saddle, left of center.Cool slabby terrain.Starting down the descent gully.View back up the descent gully.Exiting the descent gully.Hiking through the open desert on the way back to Cottonwood Campground.Some pockets of lush vegetation.View back toward Eagle Mountain.I gravitated toward a number of small, westward flowing washes.Joining an old road which lead back to the campground.
