Thursday, December 11, 2008

No Where To Go But Up

Took a nice little hike in Palm Springs today.  I was looking to see if I could find a somewhat easy access point to get on an old trail called the Gordon Trail.  No luck. 

I did hike up a very nice canyon that ends at a waterfall which had just a trickle of water coming down it.  Although the canyon does not have a name on any map, I have been told it is called Os Wit Canyon.  This is supposed to be an Indian name meaning wild cat or bobcat.  Although I did not see any wildcats, I did come across three guys hiking with dogs.   Other than that I had the canyon all to myself.

I took a few pictures.


Maybe this sign was part of the reason I didn't see a lot of hikers in the area.  I guess it could be translated: "Little used trail".

Oddly enough, just about a 1/2 mile up from the previous sign I came upon this sign.  Now why would any one put a No Trespassing sign just down from a well used trailhead?  Liability, perhaps?  Maybe the Flood Control District wants plausible deniability if someone gets hurt hiking on their land.  They could just say, "We are not responsible for anything that happens to trespassers".
 
A view up the canyon.  The Gordon Trail is somewhere to the left of the big white rock outcropping.

This is the view from deep in the canyon looking up at the North Face of the rock (called Eagle's Rest).  You can't really get there from where I am.  It is probably about 1500 feet higher than I am at this point.

This is the waterfall.  There was just the slightest trickle of water and a lot of algae growing on the rocks.  I bet it's pretty in the spring but I was quite happy I brought plenty of water with me and did not need to avail myself to what I am sure was some very tasty spring water.


I didn't find a path to get to the Gordon Trail today but it was a great little hike that I hope to repeat after some winter rains.










4 comments:

Libby said...

Cool! I'm still thinking about a hike- hasn't happened yet!

elaine x said...

first, i must say what a GREAT blog! having just moved to palm springs, this is a wonderful guide!!! =)

second, i am curious to know where you began this hike ... there's no indication of where the concrete jungle meets the rocky earth for this hike.

thank you very much!

Hal Summers said...

The way to get there is to park on the side of the road on South Palm Canyon across from Murray Canyon. It goes up the canyon to the south of the South Lykken Trail.

Hal Summers said...

Here's a map.

http://goo.gl/HdgBd

Park at the area marked and hike West. Now, there's been some construction in this area so it may have changed but it was OK on my last visit.