Magnesia Falls Mine and Bighorn Sheep

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR

Magnesia Falls Canyon in Rancho Mirage is only open three months of the year, from October through December. It is really a shame because the canyon is a special place and spring is the best time to visit it.

Lots of people hike the canyon but I'm sure very few of them know there's a trail that leaves the canyon and heads up to a mining site. It's not a large mine, only some trenches and one pit short shaft about fifteen feet deep. I also think there's got to be a trail that leads to Cathedral City from the canyon. I haven't been able to follow it all the way but I know it's there. I'll find it yet.

After the hike in along a flood control ditch, you get to the fun stuff.

Climbing this big dry fall is much easier than it looks.

Someone has been up here and done a little work since I was here last. Either that or the rain just washed this clean and it looks new.

I hike up the canyon until I get to a big mesquite thicket. This is the site of Magnesia Spring. One thing I've learned from years of hiking in the desert is that where there is mesquite, there were sure to be have been Indians. It was a main food source for them.

I don't have to look far until I find some evidence of Indian activity.

With a little more exploration, I find a trail. I thought I saw this the last time I was in the canyon but it's nice to be sure.

I gain the ridge and see a couple of hikers in the canyon below.

The trail is mostly easy to follow but there are a few sections where I have to backtrack.

I notice from above some diggings in the earth and discover the mining area. I'd been here about twenty years ago but did not remember exactly how to get here.

I don't know what was mined up here but the earth has a different look to it.

There are several large trenches and this one vertical shaft about ten or fifteen feet deep.

I leave the mining area and start to head over in the direction of Cathedral City, hoping to find a distinct trail. What I find are several trails.

Some of which I'm sure were made by this guy.

He stands as if he is sizing me up for a while and then moves and crosses the slope below me.

He finds a good vantage point and stops again to check me out.

He's not really in a hurry to get anywhere which is good because it gives me time to get a few more pictures. One of these days I'm going to have to get a better camera, though.

It is amazing how well his body color matches that of the surrounding landscape. There have been times I have tried to point Bighorn out to groups of hikers where they couldn't be seen until they moved. They can be very well camouflaged.

I know some of the trails were made by the Bighorn but I doubt that they made this.

The trail I'm following, though, is heading more toward the Thunderbird Cove area in Rancho Mirage and not into Cathedral City as I'd hoped.

I'm going to have to do some more exploring in order to find the route that I want.

But it will have to be another day since the sun is already behind the hill and I've got a long way to go to get back and down the dry falls before dark.

Thankfully, I make it. Climbing up this fall during the day isn't too bad but I don't know how climbing down in the dark would be. I'm happy I don't have to find out.

The Real Cathedral Canyon

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT

About ten days ago I went on a hike up what I thought was Cathedral Canyon in Cathedral City and did what I called the Cathedral Canyon Trail up to Dunn Road. There was only one problem with my assessment of that hike: I was not in Cathedral Canyon. I went home and looked at where I'd gone on a topographical map and discovered that Cathedral Canyon is on the east side of the cove and not the west side. I don't know what the name of the canyon I was in is called. So, I went back today and hiked in the real Cathedral Canyon.

The area around the cove in Cat City is fenced off but I found this gate to get access.

There's also a fence blocking the canyon itself but this part of the fence has been propped up presumably to allow hikers like myself the pleasure of enjoying the canyon.

Is there any place in this desert where there is not an old abandoned car?

I hike past this cool looking trail but continue up the canyon. If I have time I might just hit this on the way back.

The canyon has some towering rock formations set formed by nature.

And some that are formed by man.

As I continue up the canyon it is easy to see why someone named this after a cathedral. The towering sides enclose you and give you comfort.

At the end of this section of the canyon is a large dry waterfall. There are possibly ways to get around this fall but they would be steep, rocky and potentially dangerous. So this is a good turnaround point.

Heading back you get a good view of Edom Hill and the Little San Bernardino Mtns.

Looks like I'll have time to go and explore this trail, at least for a while.

The trail goes up into the mountains and one trail drops down into another canyon. I take the mountain route.

At the next fork I take what appears to be either a game trail or an old Indian trail and it leads to yet another canyon.

From up here I can look across to Murray Hill and the San Jacinto Mountains.

I also look up and see what appears to be an old mine or prospect of some kind. I will have to go and explore this sometime.

Instead of dropping down I choose to climb up another hill hoping to run into the trail I didn't take at my last intersection.

With the sun setting quickly I hope to run into the trail quickly.

The trail is right where I suspect it is but then I spot something else I don't expect.

Who put this here? This rock monument is probably twelve feet tall at its longest side and at least nine feet on its shortest. I wonder how long it took to build this thing.

And it's not the only one. There's a second smaller rock pyramid not far away.

I want to explore around a bit more but the sun is going to bed and the wife called and wonders when I'll be home. There are so many mysteries in these hills that I never get tired of going out to discover them. You never know what you're going to stumble upon next.