Nature Center No Go

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO

I had a few hours before work so I took the boys and their buddies up to Idyllwild to visit the State Park Nature Center and go on a little hike. There was only one problem: the Nature Center is closed on Mondays.

Well, this is disheartening.

At least there is one positive thing to note here. Dogs are allowed and cost $1.00. Kahlua will be so happy to hear that. Now she can start saving for our next visit.

So I go back into town and get a permit for the Devil's Slide Trail. It is the most popular trail in the San Jacintos so I try to avoid it whenever possible. However, since it's a Monday I figure it won't be too bad. We get to the trailhead and the boys disappear.

They take off toward the Fern Valley Creek. Before I know it they are bombing down the hill to the creek itself which I figure will be dry.

Surprisingly, there is quite a good flow coming down the creek.

There's a pretty substantial use trail along the creek so we follow that for a while.

The guys cross over a log, which to them is one of the coolest things ever.

We then get to what is pretty much a dead end and have to climb straight out of the canyon. While there is no trail there are enough footprints to determine that we are not the first ones to ever utilize this route.

The boys get together for a little recon. I tell them I know exactly where we are and which way to go to get to our strategic objective. Of course I don't tell them I brought a GPS.

In short order we are on the Devil's Slide Trail and heading uphill.

From the trail we are treated to a nice view of Suicide Rock.

We head up a bit further and I talk to the boys about all the various places we could hike to from here. There's Marion Mountain in this picture but the boys seem most interested in going to the Lookout Tower on Tahquitz Peak. I head up the trail to our turnaround point and discover the boys have already turned around behind me. I wonder where they went to now?

Hey guys! Get down from there this instant! Oh, that's not them? Good. I'm saving that for later.