Fish For Thanksgiving

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX

Thanksgiving is coming up so I thought that a lot of families might be wondering what to do with the kids. Take 'em hiking! I'll give you a few suggestions of places that are good for kids. They're not too challenging and they've got something interesting for the kiddies to see and do.

My first suggestion is The Fish Traps out in Thermal. They're easy to get to, the hike is REALLY easy and there's an interesting story to tell.

Getting there: Take Jackson Street, south from Indio to the intersection of Avenue 66. As you near Avenue 66, you'll see a large line on the mountain. This is the old water line from the ancient Lake Cahuilla. About 500 years ago, a large lake filled the entire lower Coachella Valley. It was over 25 times larger than the Salton Sea.

Park on the right side of the road. The location is:

Lat: 33.569345º N

Lon: 116.213714º W

Walk along the fence until you get to the end and then turn right.

About a hundred yards from the fence there are some petroglyphs. In addition to original Indian petroglyphs--like this one--people have put up some of their own. The original petroglyphs are all symbols; the modern ones are mostly names.

Continue walking around the hillside and you'll soon come to the Fish Traps. There are dozens along the hillside of varying depths and sizes. Have the kids count how many Fish Traps they find.

There are tons of pot sherds here. Some, I'm sure, are original and some are more recent.

The Fish Traps are in rows along the hillside.

Some of the Fish Traps are really deep and could hold a whole family.

Others, like this last one, are more pint size.

Just be sure the kids don't take anything with them. Leave everything for someone else's kids to enjoy. Let them know this was here before the first Thanksgiving and is probably the oldest historical site in the Coachella Valley.

Storm Chaser

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT

And I thought yesterday was humid.

When I walked out of my house to go and do my hike this afternoon I wasn't sure where I was going. When I looked South and saw this cloud formation I knew. I was going to go and chase some rain.

On the way I saw the biggest rainbow I've ever seen; it was so large in fact that I couldn't fit it in one picture. I uploaded a video below with the whole thing.

I got out to some fields in Thermal and headed up toward the mountains near Rabbit Peak. I doubted I'd be able to get very far but the main concern was to be safe and not get lost in the flood.

I got as far as I could drive and got out and started walking. I wasn't going to be able to cross this area here so I'd have to find another crossing.

This was actually not bad. It never got more than just a bit over ankle deep but I wasn't going to able to cross the same area when I came back. It filled up that quickly.

I follow the alluvial fan up a bit and am pounded by the rain. Being in the desert I don't generally have rain gear with me and the only thing I have is a blanket that I use to try to keep the water off my camera. It's not very effective.

The water is really moving down this wash. That bush in the middle of this picture is actually moving. The water is washing it down toward the Salton Sea.

I hike around a while until the rain diminishes. It doesn't help that not one bit of my body is dry. I actually have nothing that will help me dry my camera lens.

I made sure I parked the Jeep in a good place, on high ground. It looks like someone didn't do the same during a previous flash flood.

These floods are nothing to mess with; every year people get killed in flash floods in the desert of the American Desert Southwest. I have to walk around a bit before I find a safe place to cross and get back to where I started. I'm not really sure how far I hiked today but I know this: it was far enough.

Below are a couple of short videos I took. The first one is the rainbow and the second one is of the flood. I didn't bring anything to shoot video on the actual hike and that's a good thing. Everything got soaked including my camera. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll work again.