There are plenty of theories about the Iron Door Cave.  Perhaps Bill Keys, the pioneering rancher whose name looms large in Joshua Tree National Park’s recent history, built it as a prison for his schizophrenic son.  Or maybe it was a cold storage room.  Or perhaps it was a hidden strong room to secure gold from nearby mines ( or maybe just the dynamite ).

The door was made to be barred from the outside and is very well hidden. Of course it is easy to hide something in the jumbled boulders of the Wonderland of Rocks, but this place is especially well hidden. You can walk right by and not spot it. I know I did just that the first time I was in this area specifically looking for it!

The view from outside.

Access is down three rough steps. You really have to know where to look to spot them, though.

The interior is coated in soot and graffiti nowadays, but it is still an interesting spot to visit, mainly because it is so well-built and so well-hidden.

The graffiti is part of what makes it interesting and unique, I suppose – but if you visit try to resist the temptation to add more clutter. Close by the Hidden Door we went past a rock shelter vandalized by a Boy Scout Troop who scribbled their troop number and names on the rock. For shame.

Not far from Iron Door Cave I found a large fire pit that looked like it was roughly contemporary to the Iron Door Cave. There was some ashes in it from a recent illegal fire. I wonder if there is more to be seen in the area. Our visit was during a hot summer day so we had a limited amount of boulder scrambling in us for the day and finding this spot took care of most of it! In fact, I clean forgot to take a picture of the fire pit.

Let’s finish up with some interior pictures.

A well-built iron door. Note the fittings that can fit a bar in order to secure the door from the outside. The inside of the boulder is covered in soot and graffiti.

Some graffiti. Maybe this boulder once had pictographs ( the drawing in the botton left looks pictograph-esque, doesn’t it? ) but there’s no way to tell now.

Graffiti overlays graffiti.

There is a small alcove in the back that allows for some ventilation through a small crack.