Cat Canyon Ridge

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX

The days are getting shorter, the sun is going down earlier and soon after the time change I will have start either hiking in the morning or in the dark. The dark is tempting because I don't like waking up early but I think the pictures might be somewhat lacking if I only go at night. I fear these next two months are going to kill me. Sleep deprivation will do that.

I head up Cat Canyon in Palm Desert fully intending to hike straight up the canyon but sometimes I get distracted.

I get to a split in the canyon and wonder if I should go explore to the right up this unnamed canyon.

Or if I should go to the left and head up Cat Canyon.

For some unknown reason I decide to choose none of the above and go straight up the ridge between this. I wonder if there might be some kind of trail heading up between these two canyons. As far as I can tell the answer is NO.

I look down into Cat Canyon but decide that this is definitely not the way to go down.

I look across to the Hopalong Cassidy Trail and think how nice and easy it would be to have a trail over here instead of endless loose rocks. I don't know if it would be as interesting but it would be easier.

I really want to explore a bit but, more than that, I want to get down off this rocky slope before dark. There are few things scarier than traveling down this type of terrain in the dark.

I get down in time and walk out of the sandy wash just before it turns pitch black. I guess there's one positive thing about going out in the morning: I won't need to carry a headlamp.

North of The Kahlua Trail

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE

This morning when I woke up the temperature here was actually cooler than the weather in San Diego.

That didn't last too long.

By the time I got ready, took my son to school and came home to get my hiking gear the temperature had gone up over twenty degrees and was now eighteen degrees warmer than the 71º of San Diego. I'd hoped to get out early enough to hike in the shade on the not yet created Kahlua Trail but no luck; I got there too late.

I went to the top of the La Quinta Cove where I've been so many times this year and headed toward the hill to go to the Kahlua Trail.

But as I head toward the mountain I get a crazy idea: why not turn left at the base of the hill instead of right? So that's what I do.

We don't have to go very far and we find a trail that climbs up the hill so we decide to check it out. It's so much easier to walk on these rocky hills around here with a trail.

Besides the trail, there are a couple of rock piles that make it evident that we're not the first ones to come up this way.

The trail climbs across this rocky hillside and diminishes into nothing. I think there might be a trail here but it's not much. I figure it might just be a game trail.

At least there's a nice view from up here.

If there is a trail it really doesn't lead anywhere. We've got to drop down into this wash and it doesn't look like fun. Steep, loose, rocky slopes scare me. I slipped on one yesterday and got a little bruise on my thigh that I didn't discover until this morning.

We get down safely and Kahlua is ready to go home. Every time we go by some shade she stops to lay down. It's now 25º warmer than it is in San Diego. I'm ready for summer to end.