Thursday, November 26, 2009

Indio Hills Twisted Landscape

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

The Indio Hills are an area in the Northeast section of the Coachella Valley and while they don't offer a lot to the hiker there are opportunities for discovery and adventure. Anyone who's ever been to the Indio Hills will tell you they are mainly a wasteland, used for illegal dumping, target shooting and partying. However, the Hills have a very interesting geology due to the fact that they lie on the San Andreas Fault.

Nik is checking out the odd shapes of the Indio Hills.

I climb up a canyon but it's just a dead end and we decide to go to a different area to see what we can find.

We find a lot of little arches and other formations in the sandstone conglomerate.

This is a cool looking formation but it doesn't look like good hiking terrain.

I don't think we can get too far up this thing, either.

So we stick to the wash and go to see what we can find.

Unbelievably, we find a trail.

This is a very well formed trail and from its location and the way it traverses the hill I think it's probably an Indian trail rather than a game trail. There are many other Indian trails in these hills so it wouldn't surprise me. I'd love to follow it as far as possible but that'll have to come another day. Nikolas isn't as excited about new trails as I am.

There are so many little nooks and crannies in these Hills that despite the negative effects of human impact it is a great place to visit and explore.

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