Bear Creek Ridge

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX

Yesterday when I hiked up the Boo Hoff Trail I looked and saw what seemed to be a trail on another ridge. The location would be a good place for a trail, above the Bear Creek drainage. It would be a good spot for a trail because there is a palm oasis in Bear Creek but accessing it requires a difficult climb up the creek bed. Going up a ridge would much easier.

When I leave the wind is gusting. I hate the wind. Give me rain, snow, heat or freezing cold. All those things are tolerable without the wind and unbearable with it.

At least the front that is causing this crazy wind is being held at bay. There would be no exploration possible if it were raining.

I get out to the entrance of Bear Creek Canyon-when was the last time any bears were here?-and find there is NO way a trail goes up from here.

However, it is possible to get up on the ridge a little further up canyon.

Does this look like a trail? It could be. Maybe. Sort of.

If it is, it quickly disintegrates into a rocky trail-less slope.

I get up the hill a bit but any sign of a trail is unapparent.

I get well above Bear Creek Canyon and a large dry fall that is a formidable obstacle to those going up the canyon. I know. I've done this whole canyon before.

Above the canyon is what could possibly be a trail climbing out of the canyon. I'd like to follow it further but the wind up here is horrendous. There are gusts exceeding 50 MPH and I have to squat in order not to be toppled over. I also need to get back before dark. I do not want to be up here after dark. With steep, loose, rocky slopes and deadly drop offs that is not a place I want to be without sufficient light. Even though I brought a headlamp, I plan on using it in the canyon and not up here. I didn't find what I was looking for but I found enough to make me want to come back...on a nice day with plenty of time and no wind.

Bear Creek Palm Oasis, La Quinta

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWO

I did NOT want to go hiking today. This morning I woke up with morning sickness, or what I'd imagine morning sickness to feel like. My head felt like a cactus had taken up residence within my skull and it seemed like two porcupines were doing battle in my gut. My son brought home some 24 hour flu bug home from school and shared it with the family. At least it's not H1N1. Yet.

Determined to do the hike that I'd been hoping to do for weeks, I set out to hike to the Bear Creek Palms. The Bear Creek Palms are a small oasis high on the north side of Sheep Mountain in the Santa Rosa Mountains. Getting to them requires a hike about eight miles and an elevation gain of around 2000 feet. It is not a good hike to take when you're sick.

The Bear Creek Palms are not really in Bear Creek and I've always known them as the High Palm Oasis but the trail starts from Bear Creek and that's the more common name for them.

This is Bear Creek as it cuts a deep cleft in Sheep Mountain.

The first mile of the hike follows the wash from the top of the La Quinta Cove and is really pretty flat. From there, the trail steadily gains elevation.

As you gain elevation the views really open up. First, Mount San Jacinto comes into view.

Then, Mount San Gorgonio.

Out to the Southeast the Salton Sea fills the horizon.

I get to the high point in the trail and can look down at the palms but I've got to head back home and get to work. It is an easy hike from here but I won't make it today. Feeling sick slowed me down a bit and I've run out of time.

These rocks are usually a good lunch spot but the thought of food right now makes me nauseous.

The trail feels twice as long going down as it does going up but that's always how it feels when you need to find a restroom. But luck is with me today and I make it home before nature calls. I hate to leave anything behind, except footprints, whenever possible.

Bear Creek Canyon, South Fork, La Quinta

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND ONE

I want to be a morning person, I really do but it's more difficult than anything I've ever done. My body just doesn't want to cooperate. I wanted to get up and hike up to the Bear Creek Palm Oasis but I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough to be able to make it there and back. So I did something else. It happens a lot.

I headed up the Bear Creek Wash and got to where the trail heads up to the oasis. Instead of heading up the trail I just went straight into the canyon.

The canyon narrows and a large canyon--the main Bear Creek drainage--takes off to the right but I again just go straight.

The floor of the canyon is dry but there is water beneath the surface. This mesquite is a good indicator of subsurface water. It also makes passing through here tricky and I get pricked trying to crawl under the branches.

If the mesquite weren't enough to foretell water, this palm is. Palms have very shallow roots and require constant water to grow. There probably isn't much water, though, because this is the only living palm in the canyon.

A dry waterfall blocks my path and I wonder if I'll have to leave the canyon to get around it.

But when I get closer I find it's not that tough of a climb, only about fifteen feet. This is the view from the top.

This second dry fall gives me pause.

But only for a second. It's not too tough, either.

After a couple more dry falls--the last which was impassible--I head out of the canyon and take the overland route back to the car. Even though this wasn't the hike I'd hoped to do it may have actually been more fun. Being in the canyon helped because it was windy today and climbing those dry falls was really enjoyable. I may have also spotted another Indian trail but that will have to wait. There never seems to be enough time to do everything I want to. I guess I'm just gonna have to get up earlier.

Boo Hoff Bear Creek Loop

DAY TWO HUNDRED NINETY SEVEN

People ask me about hiking all the time and sometimes they even ask if they can come along. They don't often go beyond asking but on occasion we even make plans. Today I was expecting to get a call from a guy at work to go hiking with me down in the Mecca Hills. I'm still waiting for that call.

I waited as long as I possibly could and then headed out near home instead of driving to the Mecca Hills. It actually ended up OK because I did a very enjoyable hike that I'd never done before although I've walked past it a hundred time, at least.

I headed up to the Boo Hoff Trail but instead of continuing up the trail I turned right and headed toward Bear Creek Canyon.

I should have taken one of two trails that left the canyon I was in before I hit the Boo Hoff Trail but this is my first time. I'll know better next time.

This is looking back toward the Boo Hoff Trail. You want to head to the right well before that dark brown outcropping.

There is actually a trail that encircles the mountain that separates the Bear Creek Wash and the Boo Hoff Wash. It's faint and no one's been on it for a while but it's there.

I'm very excited when I get to the point where I can see the Cove in La Quinta. I feel like I've discovered yet another new hike in my own backyard.

From the trail you can look right into Bear Creek.

Now that I've hiked around this little mountain I think the only thing left to do is climb it.

Just not today; I want to do that when I haven't spent my best daylight hours waiting around on some flake who never calls.

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.

West and Wewaxation

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN

Working in the hotel business you see a lot of crazy things. One thing that I have never understood is the number of people who come here in the summer. From the beach! Why someone would leave weather in the 70s to come out and suffer the scorching 110s? The only answer I came up with is some people are nuts.

Until one day.

I asked a guy why he left San Diego and its perfect weather to swelter in the desert heat and he replied, "I come here to relax". I asked him why he didn't just relax at home and his reply was that he couldn't. With perfect weather outside he'd just keep going and going and going and never relax. With the blistering and relentless sun of the desert summer he had no other choice but to relax. If he didn't relax he would probably die. It made perfect sense. Relax or die should be the new desert resorts ad campaign.

I was going to head up to the mountains this afternoon but I decided not to because I knew I'd overdo it. Since I'm still a bit tired from my San Gorgonio adventure I decided on a desert hike in order to relax.

I hike up the Bear Creek wash past this mountain that always strikes me like the profile of someone laying down.

There are several little trails that take off on the west (right) side of the wash but I don't take this one of the next two. They don't really lead to anywhere. I know; I've done them.

On the east (left) side of the wash, the sun is still shining on the higher peaks. That's a good reason to go on the west. It's been in the shade longer.

The trail I want is this one.

It actually goes somewhere.

It goes to this canyon, Coyote Creek. There are a lot of canyons, peaks and other landmarks in the desert called coyote for some reason.

When I drop down to the canyon I come to this dry fall. I could scale it but something tells me there's a trail that bypasses it instead.

I try scrambling this loose rocky slope to see if I can spot a trail.

I can but unfortunately it's on the wrong side of the canyon. Oh well, I'll use that one next time.

At least there's a nice view from this side of the canyon.

Rather than going back the way I came, I head cross country to the Bear Creek Oasis Trail and have a nice leisurely walk back the wash to my Jeep and get back just after dark.

I feel so rested.