New Again

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE

April is the cruelest month, wrote T. S. Eliot but in the desert I think September is. It is cruel because it's a tease. You expect that once August is over the weather will be turning the corner and getting cooler but that doesn't happen. It's still in the hundreds and there's no sign of it getting much cooler for weeks. But will I let that stop me? I love heat, I tell myself. Consider the alternative: if I still lived in Orange County, where I grew up, I'd be faced with constant traffic day after day. Give me a few months of heat.

My work schedule required me to go in at a weird time and then getting off later than I wanted to hike. This made it necessary to hike during the heat of the day but that's OK. At least I don't have to walk in the wind, rain and snow like people in other parts of the country. And it's a dry heat, like an oven.

I think the city needs to get its money back from these signs. The map is essentially useless and the plastic covering the signs is already getting ruined by the elements. Whoever designed this sign probably designs things for model homes and country clubs, not trails.

Although there is no shade to be found I make my way up the Bear Creek Wash. Instead of following the wash either on the right or the left I decide to go up the hill on the left of the wash and follow the bank instead. It turns out to be a good decision. Walking in sand is not what I wanted to do and a trail has been created from people feeling the same way. In the almost 25 years that I've lived and hiked here I've almost always followed the wash. I don't know if I will ever again.

The trail is not as visible the entire way. After these rocks it gets pretty faint but reemerges after a bit of hiking across the open desert.

After a while the trail drops steeply into the wash near the point where the Bear Creek Palms Trail leaves it on the other side.

There is a newer trail sign in place of the sign that used to tell you not to hike during certain months due to the Bighorn Sheep. Hopefully more of those stupid signs will start to disappear.

Looking across to the hill on the other side of the wash it looks like there might be a trail on the hillside. I'm short on time but I've got to check it out.

Do I want to climb this steep, loose, rocky hillside? You bet I do!

It looks like there is the beginning of a trail here. I will have to come back and see if it continues and if, as I hope, I can make a loop around to the Boo Hoff Trail. It would be nice to have yet another new trail up here. But I'm out of time and have to run over a mile in 100+ degree heat. Cooler days are coming and the desert will be a different place; it's just not there yet. It's like spring elsewhere, better days are just around the corner.

On Restriction

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT

Fifteen years ago I used to hike with my dog everywhere. OK, not everywhere because dogs are not allowed in State or National Parks but almost everywhere. Now it's almost impossible to find a place to hike with your dog. Here in La Quinta most of the trails are closed to dogs due to the bighorn sheep. Personally, I think the closures are stupid but I won't go into it too much today.

There are still a few places I can take my dog without restrictions but I have to be creative and stay off the known trails. That's what I did today.

From the top of the La Quinta Cove I went east to the concrete slab near the mountain. On the slab was a hawk and I managed to get a quick picture just before he took off.

We headed out toward the trails but took a right turn and went up the ridge of this alluvial fan that you can see in the middle part of the picture. There is not a trail there (yet) but if enough people start walking there we can create a trail in the way people have done for thousands of years, by walking the earth.

This is what it looks like when you start heading up. There is no trail (yet) but the terrain is not very difficult. There are a few sections with some decent size rocks but they are easily gone around or over.

As you get near the base of the mountain, you get a nice view of the top of the cove and Coyote Mountain.

We looked around for a while to find the best route for a trail and on the way back we found a geocache.

Which we cleaned up a bit.

Kahlua likes the idea of creating a new trail and suggested the name the Kahlua Trail. She also thinks our next project should be to clean up some of the graffiti around town. I'll put it on our list.

A Trail For the Future

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE

As I mentioned yesterday, due to work I am stuck in town for the next few days and won't be able to do something out of town until the weekend. So I figured I'd just head up to the top of the La Quinta Cove and do a lap around the trail up there.

At the top of the cove are lots of signs. This one for some vigilante group is adjacent to the trailhead.

I decide to walk toward this mountain to start my lap on some trail I've hiked before. Where the trail abuts the mountain there is a concrete water diversion that is covered with graffiti. Maybe I should report it to the Top of the Cove people although I wonder why they don't know about it already.

As I get to where the trail heads up I see this wash over on the right and decide to go this way instead. Since I have to go to a place I've already been, at least I can go a way I've never gone.

The wash doesn't go very far so I decide to head up to the alluvial fan above it.

There is no trail here but someone's been here. This is perfect for Kahlua even though the locking mechanism doesn't work. I take it with me.

I go up toward the mountain and hang a right. This would be a nice place to a trail for people to walk their dogs. There's a little elevation gain, there's a nice view and there aren't any sheep here.

There's a nice view looking down toward the wash that leads to the Boo Hoff trail.

Here's where it could connect with the existing trail.

I don't know if this "new" trail would get as much use as this trail but it wasn't that long ago that this trail didn't exist, either.

So this is where the next trail in La Quinta should go, up along the base of this hill. It would make for a nice loop and be a great addition to the trails here. Next time I have to do a lap here near home I know where I'm going.

Pleasant Surprise

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT

This morning I was planning on doing a little lap around my usual dog walk trail near home and then come back and call it a day. Not every hike can be exciting, new and rewarding. Some days are just like that. I figured I could write about the Lakers winning the championship, the upheaval in Iran, the new iPhone or the weather. You know, stuff that everyone blogs about. But I found another new trail. Actually, two new trails. I cannot believe it; I thought I'd covered every inch of this area and to find something new is amazing to me and every exciting.

I head out on the trail with Kahlua and try to hike a little different path than I've taken before. It's not easy because I've probably been here about six times this year.

The golf course looks awful lonely today. I guess people don't know how perfect the weather has been out here.

This trail will lead me up to another trail and then my loop will be complete. Once back home, I'll shower and then head off to work.

But as I go to make a left turn on the trail that will lead me back I notice this trail. Up until today I have only hiked this trail in the other direction and never looked down to see this. I don't have much time but I have to see where it goes.

This trail is amazing! It is very well built and goes in the direction of the wash heading toward the ridge between Indio Mountain and Eisenhower Mountain.

The work done on this trail is very substantial. Someone put in dozens and maybe hundreds of hours of hard work creating this. Amazing.

It is obvious that this trail was originally an Indian trail since there are several rock monuments all along the more modern improvements. There may be some water source up the canyon or some hunting blinds or something else that would bring the Indians up here. Look closely and you'll see three monuments in this picture.

Another trail branches off and heads up the hill. I have no idea where this trail would go or what the point of it would be but I will find out. Just not today.

The trail keeps on going but I've got to get going home and to work. I will be back here soon when I have more time. I'll try to get out in the morning when it's cool so I can follow the trail however far it goes.

Kahlua's got her nose to the ground and for all I know she's sniffing out another trail. This little section of the desert is loaded with them. On what I was expecting to be a little short loop ended up being a day of discovery and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Run Like The Wind

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN

I am still not back to full strength after being sick last weekend but I'm well on the way. I'm probably 75%. It's a pleasure to be able to almost breathe normally again.

This morning I went over to the Coachella Valley Nature Preserve to check out a trail there that I had not done yet. It is on the backside of the Mesa Trail and you catch it from the trail that goes the Moon Country. I got to the trailhead and realized I left my camera at home so I snapped a few pictures with my iPhone.

Hike like you're going to Moon Country, only veer to the left side of the wash near the mountain. It's a little shorter this way and the sand is firmer.

There are a couple of trail markers so you can't miss the trail.

The trail is new and is in very good shape. It's not too steep and is good for running, not too rocky.

The only rocks at this point are reinforcements at some of the switchbacks.

As you get toward the top, this trail offers splendid views of Mount San Gorgonio.

And also, Mount San Jacinto. In fact, it has a great 360º view from the top.

There WAS a cross standing here but it was obviously blown down by the wind. It was QUITE windy when I was there this morning but it felt great. So great, in fact, that I pretty much ran the whole way back. And with the wind at my back, I made it back to the car in what must have been record time. I can only imagine what I'll do when I'm 100%.

Walking The Earth

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE

It is a fact of my life that some days my time is very limited. Traveling to hike is not an option. I have to do something near home. Today was such a day.

I head off from the top of the La Quinta Cove and see that someone has built some type of rock structure to enhance the experience. That person obviously does not have a life like I do. Even if I wanted to build a rock pile, I just don't have the time.

There's a new snazzy Monument sign to greet me and a new No Dogs sign. I'm sure people will not be happy about this particular sign. Now, the No Dogs signs are a bit further up the wash and a LOT of people currently walk their dogs beyond where this new sign is. I wonder how long it will be until someone vandalizes this new sign. I'm guessing less than a week. Personally, I think people are getting fed up with some of these restrictions that do nothing to protect the sheep. I wonder if anyone with a dog has ever encountered a sheep within one mile of this sign. My guess would be no and, if I am correct, why would you restrict someone's freedoms on the off chance one dog walker MIGHT see a sheep? I don't get it.

I hike up the Morrow Trail that heads to Lake Cahuilla. It's nice to know a horse camp is two miles from here although I doubt anyone is bringing their horse to the top of the cove to access the horse camp. I think they'd probably just go straight there. Especially since there's not any trailer parking in the cove.

After going up the trail a bit, you get to a steep drop off and the trail goes to the right. If you look closely, you can see it on the right side of the picture. (Click on this, or any, picture to enlarge). I head over this way and discover something I hadn't expected.

I find another trail. Do you see it? Really, it's not the heat. I think I see a trail here.

After hiking around the corner a bit, it becomes a bit more obvious. It IS a trail.

But why is there a trail here and where does it go? From the look of it, the trail goes to this canyon. I do not have time to check it out but there must be reason it goes here. Perhaps a water tank or maybe another reason. I cannot find out today but I'll find out on a day when I have more time and the temperature is under 100º.

Just so I know the heat isn't playing tricks on me, I take a picture of the trail heading back from the way I came. It's a trail all right. A trail I'll hopefully be on again soon. Can you think of a better way of celebrating Earth Day than discovering a new trail?