Fish For Thanksgiving

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX

Thanksgiving is coming up so I thought that a lot of families might be wondering what to do with the kids. Take 'em hiking! I'll give you a few suggestions of places that are good for kids. They're not too challenging and they've got something interesting for the kiddies to see and do.

My first suggestion is The Fish Traps out in Thermal. They're easy to get to, the hike is REALLY easy and there's an interesting story to tell.

Getting there: Take Jackson Street, south from Indio to the intersection of Avenue 66. As you near Avenue 66, you'll see a large line on the mountain. This is the old water line from the ancient Lake Cahuilla. About 500 years ago, a large lake filled the entire lower Coachella Valley. It was over 25 times larger than the Salton Sea.

Park on the right side of the road. The location is:

Lat: 33.569345º N

Lon: 116.213714º W

Walk along the fence until you get to the end and then turn right.

About a hundred yards from the fence there are some petroglyphs. In addition to original Indian petroglyphs--like this one--people have put up some of their own. The original petroglyphs are all symbols; the modern ones are mostly names.

Continue walking around the hillside and you'll soon come to the Fish Traps. There are dozens along the hillside of varying depths and sizes. Have the kids count how many Fish Traps they find.

There are tons of pot sherds here. Some, I'm sure, are original and some are more recent.

The Fish Traps are in rows along the hillside.

Some of the Fish Traps are really deep and could hold a whole family.

Others, like this last one, are more pint size.

Just be sure the kids don't take anything with them. Leave everything for someone else's kids to enjoy. Let them know this was here before the first Thanksgiving and is probably the oldest historical site in the Coachella Valley.

Trail of our Fathers

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO

The Cahuilla Indians inhabited the desert for thousands of years before Europeans came to America. They were the original desert rats and the first trail builders in and around the Coachella Valley. In a sense, they are the fathers of all of us who hike here.

I went to go and hike by the Martinez landslide area but found the gate closed and locked. No Trespassing means "find another way" to an adventurer.

I parked on a road over by the Torrez Martinez reservation and walked along the flood control dike until I got to this little canyon near the water line of ancient Lake Cahuilla.

Down below the dike there is a lot of old junk from farmers in the area. Most of what's here are fire pots for keeping crops warm on freezing nights.

After leaving the junk yard I walk along this little trail toward the nearest canyon. I am aware that this was underwater at one time. Notice the travertine covered rock on the left and the waterline up ahead.

I know there's a trail on the hillside but I don't know where it starts on this side of the hill. It starts by the fish traps on the other side but here is harder to determine.

I decide to hike up toward this canyon instead.

It's a good decision because I quickly find a trail monument.

There are several all along the hillside and while the trail is not distinct it is pretty easy to follow. There are three trail shrines in just this one picture.

There are also a few sections where the trail really stands out.

I can't follow the trail very far and get to a place where I can't determine where it goes. It could continue up the canyon or steep up the side of the hill toward the ridge. It probably was not a good time to go exploring late on a Sunday afternoon in late June in the desert. How far did I think I could go?

Heading back down toward my vehicle I imagine how this area must have looked with a giant lake filling this entire basin. It had to have been incredible.

C'est le vie

DAY NINETY FOUR

Sometimes real life gets in the way of your plans. Today, I had hoped to go to Joshua Tree. I had my hike all figured out and the pictures were already in my head. I just had to get them into the camera. But life just would not allow it.

First, I went and bought something for my computer that I found on Craigslist. Then I had to configure it, start a backup and check my email while I was at it. My older son informed me he wasn't going hiking but to the baseball field so that left my younger son and I to go. By the time we got ready, so much time had passed that it was impractical to make the drive and be back in time for a 4PM baseball game. Joshua Tree will just have to wait.

Instead, I went out to where Jackson Street turns into Avenue 66 and hiked over by the Ancient Fish Traps. I figured if Indians were here, they had to have trails so I set out to find some.

I wasn't long until I found some semblance of trail. I don't know if it is ancient or made by Native Americans but it is here and I just can't say no to a trail I've never done.

The trail becomes impossible to follow as I get into a bunch of rocks but I think I'm going to aim for that little saddle since that seems to be the obvious place to go.

I guess it wasn't only obvious to me as I pick up the trail once again.

The area up here is laden with trails and the remnants of some stone walls or possibly wind shelters or hunting blinds.

There are lots of little trails that go every which direction and I spend some time following them around.

One interesting thing is this area that is cleared and laid out with lots of quartz. It's like some kind of dance floor or maybe just a nice place to sleep for the night.

As I get up a little higher I am able to see the pattern of some of the trails below.

I also spot this trail leading to the West. Hmm, I wonder where this goes?

It heads across the hill and on to another trail. The area has a weird feel to it because there is a constant buzzing sound, like a low hum, the whole time I'm up there. I keep looking around to see a bee swarm or tons of flies or something but there is no explaining it. It sounds to me like the sound of power, of electricity, and it is kind of eerie. Not scary, just odd. I can honestly say I have never experienced anything quite like it.

I keep following the trail, which is wide in spots and in other places has bushes growing in the middle of it. Obviously, this is a VERY old trail. I can spot it across the way and continue on.

One last hill to climb and we'll see where this goes.

The trail starts going down toward this cove area. I can imagine what this looked like when the ancient Lake Cahuilla licked the shoreline here. It must have been like an ancient Rivieria. It had to be beautiful to behold. The trail obviously went down to where the water was and then went up the other side somewhere. I won't be able to find out where this trail goes or if there is another trail somewhere beyond. At least I won't be able to do it today. I have a baseball game to go to.

Not Quite Capturing the Flag

Day Forty Four

Kids have more holidays now than I remember having when I was in school.  Today they are off for Lincoln's Birthday and Monday they are off for President's Day.  Wasn't the point of President's Day combining Lincoln's and Washington's Birthday into one holiday?  Maybe Friday the 13th is now a holiday so kids don't have anything bad happen to them in school.

I took my son, Nik, and two of his friends, Eliot and Tyler over by Lake Cahuilla to climb this little peak with a flag on top.

The gully directly below the flag looked a bit steep for the guys so I opted to take them up one a bit to the south.

The boys flew up that thing.  I kept expecting them to tire out and slow down but it never happened.  It must be nice to have young legs.  The guys reached the top about 30 seconds before I did.

Unfortunately, getting to the flag itself was not going to happen from where we were.  To get over there we'd have to climb over some sketchy class 4-5 crumbling rock.  Even if the boys wanted to--and they didn't--I wasn't going to let them go for it.  This is as close as we're getting today.

Looking down, you can see The Quarry Golf Club and Lake Cahuilla.  Even if we didn't get to the flag, the view was still breathtaking.

The fellas quickly learned that going up is a LOT easier than going down.  They scoot down on very loose dirt rocks until they get to some more stable, larger rocks below.

Woo Hoo!  It sure feels good to be on solid ground again!

After getting down, we head over to the Fish Traps, near the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation, because the boys have never been there.  Eliot and Nikolas find a little crevice in the rocks there.

A nice bedrock mortar in the area near the fish traps.

Looks like we caught three large corvina in one of the many traps along the hillside.

The boys hold some of the many pottery sherds found near the Fish Traps.  They wanted to bring them home but I told them to leave them for others to enjoy.  Besides, what good is a broken pot?  When we get home, they mention that they are glad we left them there.  They think it will be cool for someone else to see them and have the same experience they did.

Flowers are starting to bloom all over.  It's going to be a spectacular year in the desert for wildflowers.

We had a great time even though we didn't capture the flag this time.  But I'm looking forward to the next Friday the 13th holiday and I'm sure the boys are, too.

Fish on Friday

Day Sixteen

I'm not Catholic so I don't get the whole fish on Friday thing.  I like fish any day, especially wild Salmon.  Maybe it's from spending a lot of summers in Seattle growing up.

The ancient Cahuilla Indians also loved fish.  Hundreds of years ago, there was a large lake that filled the Southern part of the Coachella Valley.  It was many times larger than the Salton Sea and was filled with fresh water.  In many places south of La Quinta, you can see the "bath tub ring" left by this ancient lake.  There are also remnants of an interesting archeological artifact left by these ancient Indians, the Fish Traps.

These Fish Traps were used by the Indians along the shore of this lake.  They would allow fish to swim into these little pools and then fill in the lake side of the pools, trapping the fish.  It is estimated they are between 400-500 years old.

To get to the Fish Traps you have to walk between a couple of fences.  The traps themselves are on public land but they are surrounded by ranches.

There are several petroglyphs carved into the tufa on the rocks near the Fish Traps.

A petroglyph of a lizard.  Another great source of food for the Cahuilla Indians.  They taste like chicken.  Or as the Indians probably say about chicken, "Taste like Chuckwalla".

Notice the waterline along the mountainside.

Some of the Fish Traps.

Some potsherds in the bottom of one of the traps.  Don't know if they are authentic but they look like the real deal.  

More traps.

I also did some hiking in Toro Canyon and little exploratory drive up Martinez Canyon but I'll leave those for another day.  

If you'd like directions on getting to the Fish Traps, send me an email.

Some more info on the ancient Lake Cahuilla and the Fish Traps here.