Macomber Palms Ridge at Sunrise

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE

My work schedule required that I go out hiking before the sunrise. For some people this is the best part of the day. I, however, have retained my sanity and realize that God intended these hours for sleeping. Some days a little insanity is required and today was such a day. I set my alarm for 6 and rose while it was still dark. When the alarm went off I wondered if I'd died and gone to hell. I drove over to the Indio Hills and decided to do a little hike I last attempted in the summer. This is the location I encountered my one rattlesnake that I encountered this year. Rattlers shouldn't be a problem since the temperature was in the 30s.

The trails are very eroded in this area so I tried to access the ridge from the bottom but ran into a little problem.

At this point there's nowhere to go but up.

The sun has not yet crested the horizon but it is light enough to see. I was afraid that I'd have to spend part of this hike in the dark and I did enough of that last night.

Looking back toward Mount San Jacinto I can see that the sun has reached some portions of a valley. It is still and cool and I wish I were back in bed.

Finally, the sun decided to make an appearance and I start to feel it's actually OK to be awake.

The light hasn't filtered down to the canyon where I parked my Jeep but most of the area is starting to wake up.

At one time there was a very good trail here. I wonder who made it and why. There are sections of severe erosion but most of the trail is in superb shape. With just a little work, it could be usable for others besides me.

Up on the hilltop someone has built a little campsite. There are certainly better campsites around but if you're looking for solitude, nice views and no chance of starting a forest fire then this might just be the place for you.

Here's a section of the incredible erosion on this trail. It may look like the trail goes down to the left but it doesn't. It actually continues straight.

The light has finally touched to top of the palms and it's time to go home and get ready for work. I've already done my hike and haven't even had a cup of coffee. Maybe I have lost my sanity. That's OK. It's only temporary. Tomorrow, I'm sleeping in.

Indio Hills Twisted Landscape

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

The Indio Hills are an area in the Northeast section of the Coachella Valley and while they don't offer a lot to the hiker there are opportunities for discovery and adventure. Anyone who's ever been to the Indio Hills will tell you they are mainly a wasteland, used for illegal dumping, target shooting and partying. However, the Hills have a very interesting geology due to the fact that they lie on the San Andreas Fault.

Nik is checking out the odd shapes of the Indio Hills.

I climb up a canyon but it's just a dead end and we decide to go to a different area to see what we can find.

We find a lot of little arches and other formations in the sandstone conglomerate.

This is a cool looking formation but it doesn't look like good hiking terrain.

I don't think we can get too far up this thing, either.

So we stick to the wash and go to see what we can find.

Unbelievably, we find a trail.

This is a very well formed trail and from its location and the way it traverses the hill I think it's probably an Indian trail rather than a game trail. There are many other Indian trails in these hills so it wouldn't surprise me. I'd love to follow it as far as possible but that'll have to come another day. Nikolas isn't as excited about new trails as I am.

There are so many little nooks and crannies in these Hills that despite the negative effects of human impact it is a great place to visit and explore.

Nowhere Man

THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN

I have a big hike planned for next week so my hikes until then will tend to be short and easy so I can rest up . I went out north of the Indio Hills to go and explore a bit and see if I could find anything interesting. Unfortunately, you don't always find something interesting when you go out exploring. That's part of the challenge.

I drove up some canyon until I couldn't drive up any further. It has a barricade due to the fact that this is the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park.

I don't think those targets were part of the original National Park sign.

I think I might hike up to these radio towers and see what the view looks like from there.

Then I read this sign that, through the bullet holes, urges caution because the radio energy may be unsafe. I don't know enough about radio waves to know what it could do to you but I wonder if maybe it could cause cancer or turn your mind into a gob of gelatinous goo and render you incapable of reasonable cognitive function. It's possible. Look at Glenn Beck, he started in radio.

So I start hiking up the wash and I'm surprised to find footprints and that someone else has been up here hiking in the middle of nowhere.

I walk up a series of washes hoping to find something interesting but each turn looks much like the last although where the canyon narrows it starts getting a bit more intriguing.

As I pass through the canyon I spot this little arch up high on a hill. It's not big or made of stone but it's something I've never seen before.

I get to a place where the canyon splits and I'm not sure which way to go.

So I choose neither and climb up the side on the left. I figure I can see more up top than down in the canyon anyway.

There's a nice view from the middle of nowhere up to San Gorgonio and I wonder how the view up by the radio towers is. Just not enough to risk cancer or dementia.

Crazy Ridge, Indio Hills

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY

The Indio Hills are along the San Andreas Fault and contain several palm oases, sandy washes and rocky ridges. Today I choose to explore one of the rocky ridges and regretted it almost from the moment I left my Jeep. The ridge was rocky, steep, hard and loose, really ugly.

Thankfully, the beauty of the setting sun helped make up for the unsure footing of the ridge I, for some reason, decided to climb.

Doesn't this look like great hiking terrain?

Part way up I look down and see this rock pile that someone made up here. Why? I have no idea.

Higher up I am able to see this water tank that is hidden from view unless you climb up here. I hope the water drawn from this well doesn't adversely affect the nearby palm oases.

Oddly enough I find the remnants of a faint trail along the ridge. What kind of lunatic would hike up here? Besides me, of course.

I get to the top and there's not much to see. Gee, I'm glad I made the effort.

I, at least, am able to look out upon what is probably the last large expanse of undeveloped desert in the Coachella Valley.

With the sun now behind Mount San Jacinto I need to get down. There is no way I want to go down this thing at night. It's like walking on ball bearings.

Part way down I come upon this little shrine. I totally missed it on the way up even though I passed within six feet of it. I was too busy concentrating on not falling. I don't know what this could be a shrine to, probably insanity.

Coming down this ridge to check out the rock pile I think about scooching down the hill but a voice in my head says, "Men do not scooch. You are not a worm ridden poodle on a carpet". I don't know if that was the voice of reason, testosterone or utter folly talking but I listened to it. Thankfully, I didn't fall and bruise my butt.

I get to this pile of rocks and find out that it's not manmade like I thought it was. It's a natural occurrence, the product of uplifting and erosion, very weird. The landscape around these hills is very strange and potentially dangerous but I made it back in one piece. I doubt I'll be back. Whaddaya think I am? Crazy?

Indio Hills Exploration

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO

One of these days when I get a few hours and the temperatures cool off a bit I'd like to do a traverse of the Indio Hills from Thousand Palms Canyon Road over to Dillon Road. I'm sure there are some Indian Trails in the area and it's something I've never done so, why not?

This afternoon I went over near MacComber Palms to see if I could get up on a ridge and check out a possible route. Going to the Indio Hills can be depressing. There is so much garbage. There are sections that look like a war zone with everything in sight having been shot up or burned. Shotgun shells and bullet casing litter the ground and broken glass is everywhere. It hardly seems like a place someone would want to go hiking but once you get off the flat land that is accessible by car things get better quickly.

There is nothing people out here won't shoot and it makes me reluctant to leave my Jeep alone for long.

There's a bit of a trail heading up the ridge so I think maybe I'll be able to find something up here besides rocks and dirt.

Nothing but rocks and dirt yet but getting up higher I get a nice view of the palm trees that are common in the Indio Hills due to the water which bubbles up to the surface due to the San Andreas Fault.

I had hoped that this ridge would connect with some other ridges and get me to the main rib of the Indio Hills but it drops into a wash instead.

There is what looks like a decent trail heading up to the top of this hill so maybe I'll find something interesting at the top.

Just what I suspected: rocks and dirt.

And the sun setting over Mount San Jacinto.

I head down a different ridge hoping to find something interesting but all I find is a ridge that's a little steeper than the one I came up.

It's also been used as a shooting gallery with broken glass all around. I am extra, extra careful coming down this because as much as I don't want to fall on rocks, I REALLY don't want to fall on broken glass.

I think the Indio Hills have treasures to discover with exploration, I just didn't find any today. I'll be back, though. I just want to find a better place to park.

Just A Little Rattled

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY ONE

I had planned to go and hike in Palm Desert after work. That way I could get some shade and I'd hike a little loop I haven't done in a couple of months. Two things conspired against me, though. First, I forgot my camera at home when I left for work and I wanted to go home and get it. Then, when I left work I saw the clouds and the position of the sun, I thought this is going to be a nice sunset and I won't be able to see it from Palm Desert. So after getting my camera I decided to head over to the Indio Hills and see if I could get some pictures near Biskra Palms.

I get to Biskra Palms and the sun is getting real low on the horizon and I have to run to get to a viewpoint where I can get some pictures.

I'm hoping to get up this hill before the sun totally disappears.

Before I get to the hill I turn and get a shot of the sun as it disappears.

I get to the base of the hill and take this shot before I start climbing.

As I climb I continually turn around and take pictures along the way.

The footing is precarious with loose rocks and dirt. It is not fun stuff to climb but the view is worth the effort.

There is very little vegetation on these hills other than a few creosote bushes.

I figure I can hike up this trail a way and come down a different direction closer to the palms. I brought a flashlight in case it gets to dark to see and the hike is going pretty well although the trail is a bit eroded in a few places.

I get to a section where the trail is a bit washed out and I have to jump down a couple of feet to get to a stable section. As soon as my feet hit the ground I hear the unmistakable buzz of a rattlesnake. I look to see where he is and he's about four feet from me and headed in my direction. The reason he's coming toward me is so he can escape below the big rock. That's where he is right now. Trust me.

I wait from a safe location to see if he'll make an appearance and, sure enough, he does. He moves very quickly and while I try to get a close up picture it comes out blurry so this is as good as it gets.

He moves pretty fast along the rocks right where I was standing. I figure he's probably about two and a half feet long.

He heads down into this hole where he'll be safe and so will I. I decide that maybe I don't want to hike the rest of this trail and hike back through the palm oasis in the dark. I don't want to stumble into one of this guy's relatives.

The hill that leads back is like walking down an ice slope covered with ball bearings. But I take it slow and keep my eyes peeled for snakes. One thing about seeing a snake on a hike is that it makes you just a bit paranoid for the rest of the day.

I get back to the Jeep before I really need the flashlight. I check under my door to make sure there are no snakes and climb in. I really thought it would have been too hot today to have a rattler out and about but I guess they can venture out in the shade of the afternoon just like I can. I guess I'll have to start remembering to bring my snake stick along from now on.