Winter in the Preserve

With the wet winter that we had, one of the things that I like to do is go out and see how local conditions have changed as a result of the increased precipitation. I enjoy the changes from our normal drought conditions. I decided to go for a hike in the Whitewater Preserve with Charlene for just this purpose. As we started our hike we were treated to a view of Bighorn Sheep on the cliffs above us.

They are just a little below the top

Here's a close-up

This is normally a dry stream bed

After walking along for a ways, the canyon splits and the trail heads east, where it will head up out of the canyon bottom.

This marks the start of the canyon split

My friend Hal hasn't been here recently, he doesn't tolerate ducks very well

From here the trail heads up the ridge on the left

This is where we stopped, San Gorgonio is left of center

The water in the stream was flowing a little too much for us to consider trying to cross

Notice the patterns in the water, it's forming waves and rolling some good sized rocks

On the way back we stopped to look at this rock formation, it's different from anything else in the area.

As we hiked back to the trailhead we kept gazing at the cliffs where we had seen the bighorn, wondering if we'd see them again.

Sure enough, even closer to us than before, we saw one on the ledge below the light colored band. Seeing so much water and the bighorn made for a great hike!

Whitewater Preserve

December 26, 2009

My last adventure of the year was a little trip to meet some friends from back east out at the Whitewater Preserve. We didn't do much hiking and I really consider this more of a park than anything else, especially if you stay in the immediate area of the visitor center like we did. Still, I think it's a very cool place, especially if you are going on a picnic or have people along that don't hike much. The preserve belongs to The Wildlands Conservancy and they have done a very nice job of making this something for everyone. By the way, this will be a short blog.

Our friends were coming out from Orange County, so we waited near the mouth of the canyon, so we would have cell service. The cell service was needed to coordinate our meeting when they arrived. Traffic was very heavy, actually stop and go near the outlet stores in Cabazon, so the phones were indispensable.

View in the canyon while waiting

Since it was the day after Christmas, it was certainly winter and we had our winter conditions. It was somewhat overcast and chilly, by our standards anyway. We did a little exploring while waiting and I saw this sign.

Wilderness marker

While I like to think that I appreciate the wilderness as much as anyone, I was surprised to see this sign next to a gate. I walked over to take a closer look, thinking that there must be something I'm missing and sure enough, I found a bench mark.

Bench mark

Soon our friends arrived and we went to the park area. It's completed with a visitor center, lots of parking, rest rooms and picnic tables. The kind of park my family enjoyed when I was a kid. But this is different, this area was once a trout farm and the conservancy saved some of the ponds and of course, some of the fish.

Trout, some of the biggest you'll ever see

The landscaping is nice and the overall setting is beautiful

A very cool diving duck

Picnic and grass area

The hills near the visitor center

I'm not going to write much more, other than to say that you really should check this place out, if you haven't already. Click on the links above for directions