Way To Bee

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE

Last night I had three unexpected guests spend the night. My brother and his daughter stayed over and one of my kid's friends also enjoyed our floor for the night. In the morning we had to feed these people. So I sent my brother off to the store to get some waffles and I went on my hike.

I didn't have much time so I decided to hike up a hill that I did a few months ago that has a cross on the top. We had some windy nights and now the cross is gone and I wanted to see if I could find where it went.

There's a bit of a trail heading up the canyon and I try to follow it. Although I do a lot of my hikes on loose, steep, crumbly rock, I prefer to follow a trail when possible. At least on this terrain. Unfortunately, the trail doesn't go very far and disappears.

I get about half way up the hill and spot a trail on the side of the hill. I make my way over to it. Slowly and cautiously, of course. Can you see it?

I get to the saddle and find a pretty good trail. Like many of the other trails in the area someone put a lot of work into this.

There is a nice view from up here.

There is also a nice view going up. I head up the trail a ways but have to turn around before I get to the top. I'll have to come again when I don't have waffles waiting.

The trail down is very well defined at least at this point. I really want to see where the trail starts so next time it'll be easier and safer to get to the top.

There is even a little fire pit that someone created. I didn't bring any firewood but it would have come in handy a bit later.

I come to this section in the trail and wonder if it's some sort of bed. It may be a directional monument because the way I take from here is obviously wrong.

It is very steep, very loose and if I make a misstep I will fall about thirty feet. I also run into a big problem. As I put my hand back on rock to support myself I disturb a swarm of bees and they start attacking me. I am trying to maintain my balance while at the same time trying not to fall and to swat bees. Since falling would be far worse than a few bee stings I move slowly and deliberately. I get past the point of immediate danger and start to move faster. Once I am clear of the bees, I stop to assess the damage. I have five stings. One on my ankle, two on my back, one on my neck and one on my ear.

That last one is the only one that hurts.

Distant Relatives

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE

I had to hang close to home today because I had to meet with a construction company who is fixing the entry way on my house. I was going to just go and hike up a trail that I've done a few times this year but then I noticed a side canyon that I hadn't ever explored.

Kahlua always wants to go even if it's in the middle of the day. Fortunately, it has not been too hot so I don't feel bad about taking her out in the heat. Once it warms up again she'll only be going in the morning or evening no matter what she wants.

She fancies herself a great hunting hound. She needs to be a little more selective, though. She pretty much chases anything that moves.

We head up this little side canyon. I'm hoping to find some tinajas or maybe on old Indian Trail or something other than just brown rocks. Then I see something move.

Running across the rocks is one of Kahlua's distant relatives, the coyote. He runs away from us but then stops and looks back, curious about what we're doing there. (click on picture to enlarge)

He gets a better viewpoint and checks us out for quite a while. I thought about moving in his direction to get a closer picture but he knows this area much better than I do and I have no chance catching him in this rocky terrain.

He also blends in really well. It's amazing how well camouflaged different animals in the desert are. You really have to look close to see them sometimes.

While I have heard the cries of coyotes many evenings on my hikes, this is the first time I've seen one this year. Coyotes are prevalent in the desert and they are frequently responsible for people's missing pets. It is much easier for them to catch a curious little lap dog than a fast and cautious jack rabbit. That is why it is a good idea never to let your pooch out of your sight. These wily critters are our neighbors and will gladly make your pet a midnight snack. Thankfully, Kahlua stays close. She's too tired from chasing little varmints. She probably thinks she could take this coyote but I won't give her the chance. As much as she loves hiking, she's no match for this guy who lives in the wilderness. None of us are. He's just too wily.

Joy and Disappointment

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY EIGHT

After such a great hike on Saturday, today's hike was anti-climactic, VERY anticlimactic. Since it was a full moon, I waited until the end of the Laker game to go out on my hike. I was hoping to get some good pictures of the moon rising over the horizon. That didn't happen. It's not the first time the moon has disappointed me.

With the Laker game going into overtime I had to literally run to try and get into position to get some moonshots. I crossed over the storm channel and headed up to the hills.

I thought if I climbed up this little hill I might get a good view of the moon coming up. Wrong!

I started running up the hill, looking to the East, trying to beat the moon's arrival. I thought for a moment the moon was coming up but soon discovered the light came from cars driving on I-10 in the distance.

I got to the top of the hill and waiting...and waited....and waited. No moon. As has happened to me before, on other hikes, is that the moonrise is blocked by the mountains. To make it worse, the sky was cloudy and the clouds also shrouded the moon.

After waiting for a moon that never came, Kahlua and I set out on the trail for a little night hike. While I had hoped for some moonlight to guide our way, our eyes were well enough adjusted to see even without it.

Someone had some fun over in this area building all kinds of little rock formations like this little heart. How fun to be young and in love. I don't have time for that stuff now.

Kahlua loves chasing critters and she almost managed to capture something but it ducked under this creosote bush.

Much like the rest of life, hiking is filled with joy and disappointment. It is always a pleasure to go out and discover new places or to take comfort in familiar terrain. But things don't often work out as planned and you have to adapt and just keep moving. It's a lesson I apply to my life daily, whether hiking or not.

A Light Workout

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE

After yesterday's great hike I just did a nice little walk with the dog as my hike today. I'll put a couple of pictures of it up later. If you want you can go back and read yesterday's hike blog again. I'm still relishing the afterglow of how fun it was. Tomorrow I'll probably do another light and easy hike because Saturday I have another big, long adventure planned.

That oughta be a good one.

Here are the promised pictures.

Kahlua follows along. As much as that dog loves to go, I hate taking her when it's over 80º. Even though she's a desert dog I worry about her hiking in too much heat. That black coat doesn't help either.

Kahlua squeezes through rocks on the trail.

In the distance you can see where some idiot spray painted the rocks next to the trail. I'll have to remember to get some brown spray paint to cover it up next time I go to Walmart or Home Depot. I don't go to either of those places often so maybe I should write it down.

And when I get the paint I need to remember to get DARK brown.

The Mighty Hunters

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE

I plan on going on a couple of longer--over ten miles--hikes this week so today I thought I'd take it easy and bring along some company. So I piled Kahlua, Nikolas, Jakob and Johnnie into the Sienna and headed to the top of the cove here in La Quinta.

I didn't want to hike too far so we just headed up the Bear Creek wash. Nikolas brought his slingshot along for a little target practice and to make the hike more interesting. He asked if he could shoot a jackrabbit and I told him OK. I can barely get a photo of a jackrabbit so I knew the chances of him hitting one with a slingshot were non-existent.

But the boys were excited. They figured they could bring home a trophy kill and they weren't going to wait to do it. Their idea of hiking is what most people would call running.

The temperature was about 100º but in the shade it was pretty nice. We were not the only people out this afternoon but we were the only hunters.

We hiked back a way in the creek bed but didn't have any luck spotting a jack rabbit much less trying to hit it with a slingshot. So the boys decided to run up the hill to look up there for something to kill.

But the only thing up here is a big pile of rocks so the boys decide to run over and check it out.

We find this rock pile and take a little target practice. I don't think the rabbits, or any other creature for that matter, have much to fear.

We look up at the sun setting on Martinez Mountain and I wonder if I can get the boys to go hiking up there with me one day. Of course, they won't be able to bring the slingshot. It's a game refuge. No hunting allowed.

Little Johnnie makes his way up the rock pile as we head toward the trailhead. The other boys already ran ahead. I never bother trying to catch up and don't know if I could if I tried. Of course, it doesn't much matter: I have the car keys.

On A Hunt For Nothing

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT

At the beginning of the year I went for a hike just south of the Tradition Golf Club in La Quinta. This morning I went back to see what else I might find. And what did I find? Unfortunately, not much.

Behind the Tradition is an alluvial fan lying beneath Coral Reef Mountain.

There are some trail or boundary markers built by the Indians that have been undisturbed and remain intact. If you look at this picture there are three. The rock pile in the foreground, one on the left about halfway up and one a little higher than the middle of the picture.

Looking up the hill, I think I might see a possible hunting blind or rock wall.

But when I climb up there all I find is a view.

I could hike up to this little pass but it is starting to get hot and I've got to get back to work. I'll save this trip for fall.

There is a hunting blind here. I saw this in January but I'd hoped that maybe I'd find something else this time. I never know what I'm going to find, if anything, so sometimes it just turns out that I'm out hunting for something that doesn't exist.

There is a little trail that leads down the hill and I'd like to follow it to see where it leads.

There's another trail marker but the trail disappears under the swath of homes and fairways as the past has been swallowed up by the present.

Rock Me Gently

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR

Today I only had a few things I was looking for in my hike. It had to be flat, close to home in the shade. After climbing some steep stuff the past few days I figured I needed a break. I was also going to take the dog.

I headed up to the Fred Wolff Bear Creek Nature Preserve and went west. The Preserve is certainly flat but there's not a lot there to see.

West of the Preserve, however, is a large alluvial fan that comes down from the steep canyons near Indio Mountain. I find a trail here.

As the trail grows more faint, I find several of these rock piles to follow and stay on course.

There is a good chance that these are ancient Indian markers, at least some of them. The Cahuilla had a village site here in La Quinta and hunted and gathered all throughout these hills. According to various BLM reports, this area is high in potential "cultural resources".

I also come upon this little rock circle. This may or may not be a "cultural resource" but it seems like something interesting to me.

The trail becomes less distinct but there are a couple of these rock piles to guide me in the right direction. You have to look close to see them.

I quickly get to a place where I completely lose the trail. I could go back and try to locate it again but I don't have time so I just keep moving on.

Looking ahead I see some deep canyons but I really do not have time to explore them and won't until after summer is over. There may be several hours or days of exploration up here and who knows what I might find. The Cahuilla Indians called the area around Indio Mountain something like "No passageway" since there was no trail that led over the mountain ridge at this point. Ironically, the BLM is considering putting a trail in this area to connect Palm Desert and La Quinta although, in my opinion, there are better alternatives where trails already exist. Why an Indian trail reaches into this area is something to ponder. My guess is it's a hunting trail. If there was no passageway, then animals could be cornered and killed. I've seen a hunting blind on top of Indio Mountain and I suspect there may be one to two higher up in the canyon.

I move over to a big drainage in hope of finding a sandy wash I can follow back but I am met with this. I think I'll just have to go back the way I came.

While it's not really flat, it is certainly not steep. But I do not want to hike down this in the dark without a flashlight (or with one, to tell the truth) and so end my exploration here. I'll add to my list this as a place to explore further when the weather becomes conducive to it. You never know what you might find out here even if it's on a gentle slope full of rocks.f