Black eagle mine road, joshua tree National Park, overland trails, california overland trails, off-road trails, over land, overlanding, overland, off-road, orroading, off road adventure, vehicle supported adventure,
GPS N 33 49.68   W115 45.50
Elevation 1,300-2,500 ft
Season Year round: best Oct.-May
Terrain Graded, sand washes, imbedded rocks
Difficulty easy to moderate: sections could be difficult after storms
Required Vehicle  High Clearance 4 wheel drive.
Time 2.5 hours out and back
Length 16.5 miles

Directions: Black Eagle Mine Road begins at the 6.5 miles north of Cottonwood Visitor Center (same trailhead as Old Dale Road)

Black eagle mine road, joshua tree National Park, overland trails, california overland trails, off-road trails, over land, overlanding, overland, off-road, orroading, off road adventure, vehicle supported adventure,
Moderate terrain Black Eagle Mine Trail

Site Location and Description:  Black Eagle Mine road runs along the edge of Pinto Basin, crosses several dry washes, and winds through canyons in the Eagle Mountains. The first nine miles are in the park. Beyond that point, the overland trail is on  Bureau of Land Management land. The road stopped for us when we ran into a large boulder in the middle of the off-road trail. Several old mines are located around the road.

BoreasCampers

Black eagle mine road, joshua tree National Park, overland trails, california overland trails, off-road trails, over land, overlanding, overland, off-road, orroading, off road adventure, vehicle supported adventure,
Whoops on black eagle trail

The History of Black Eagle Mine Road:  This trail passes by Barry Storm’s Jade Mine, the Black Eagle Gold Mine and Kaiser’s Eagle Mountain Mine as well as other old abandoned gold mines.
Barry Storm stumbled across a large jade deposit and mined it from 1956 to 1967.  The biggest piece of jade that his mines produced weighed 450 pounds.  He broke it up and sold it in the Twenty-Nine Palms area.  The Black Eagle mine produced over 1,000 tons of ore generating approximately $30,000 between 1923 and 1928. Water for the camp was brought in from Cottonwood Springs.  A mill was constructed in the late 1920’s but was unsustainable and both the mine and the mill had to be shut down sometime in the early 1940’s.  Between 1935 and 1940, ore production generated approximately $200,000.  In 1939 a concentration and flotation plant was installed and operated from 1939 to 1940.  It yealded over $53,000 in concentrates.

Black eagle mine road, joshua tree National Park, overland trails, california overland trails, off-road trails, over land, overlanding, overland, off-road, orroading, off road adventure, vehicle supported adventure,
Black Eagle Trail-Joshua Tree National Park and Beurea of Land Management

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New York born to SoCal via Puerto Rico and San Francisco, partner in crime and co-founder of The Adventure Portal, Lori has over 15 years experience in partaking of adventures in the American southwest, primitive camping, hiking and exploring in her Rubi. She welcomes new challenges and is always pushing the envelope of adventure in her Jeep.