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!

Hayfield Summit

December 2009

Roy is still nursing his wrist, so we jumped on the excuse to do some more exploring. With the cooler temperatures we headed down to the the south end of Joshua Tree National Park, along the I-10 corridor. This area is well known for it's series of water sources that were so vital to early travelers, especially the Indians. We headed out to the Hayfield Summit area to see some petroglyphs. We started at the base of the hills, where we should have dropped into the wash.

Looking down into the wash from where we parked the vehicle

I have been reading Hal Summers blog, Hike Every Day and recently he has been spending a lot of time checking out old Indian trails. As we were getting ready to start hiking, I saw what I thought might be the remnants of an old trail in the hillside above us. We started hiking cross country and soon decided that there was no trail, but I did notice that there was a series of ducks.

A duck on a boulder

Even though by this time we could see a well defined trail on the other side of the wash, we just had to follow the ducks. After about a quarter of a mile we found a mine site. It was well marked by a large pile of stones.

Pile of stones marking the first diggings we found

There was a small dig, not more than about eight feet long and only a few feet deep. As we were looking around from something more interesting, we noticed that there was an old trail on the hillside we were standing on. Needless to say, we just had to check it out. The trail was in disrepair and grown over in many places, but it switched back up the side of the hill until we arrived at a more extensive dig.

Roy on the old trail in one of the "better" sections

This dig was several times larger than the first one

This second dig was much more extensive than the first, but still wasn't too interesting. However, the trail continued on up toward a saddle about another hundred feet above us. Naturally we just had to continue to follow the trail and soon enough we found the workings of an old mine.

Remnants of the old mine

Now we had some artifacts to look at, this was getting to be more of the entertainment level we had been looking for. As we continued to explore the site it kept getting better and better until we found that actual mine itself. It looked good, but not good enough for Roy to go into, so I stayed out to keep him company. Actually neither of us would ever dream of going into a hole like this, the danger is just too great.

Vertical mine shaft

While looking around the site Roy found the claim, dated 1986, so I guess it wasn't that old after all. I find it hard to believe that 20 years ago that all this work was done. I think that it was an old mine site that was "rediscovered" and claimed in recent times, because I don't think that modern miners would build the trail that we followed. It was designed for mules and I don't think anyone is mining with them in these parts. One interesting thing about the claim was that as a reference point it mentioned the Hayfield Summit Spring. We could see another trail on the other side of the hill we were on that seemed to lead to the spring, so we decided to head over and check it out. We figured that the reliable water supply would have some sign of Indian visitation.

Heading out to find the spring

The route to the spring turned out to be very intimidating looking and surprisingly easy. There was quite a bit of exposure and you certainly wouldn't want to fall, but we didn't and soon were overlooking the spring and at the saddle that joined the trail to the spring.

Looking down the steep slope to the area of the spring

Soon we were down in the bottom of the wash at the "spring" which turned out to be a small concrete dam across the wash. From the dam we hiked up the canyon and it soon became very steep and rocky. I was wishing I had on my climbing shoes in places. Since Roy had followed the trail, he got ahead of me and soon I was struggling to catch up to him. I saw him a few hundred feet up canyon from me, taking my picture. I continued on up and never could catch up to him. As a matter of fact, I never saw him again. The route up was very interesting and challenging and I was enjoying myself a little too much to stop. I figured out that he wasn't ahead of me when I entered a narrow sandy section with no footprints.

Rocky and steep terrain

After working my way up through house sized boulders, steep little headwalls and narrow slots in the bedrock, I came out into a flat section of the wash. The wash was wider and had lots of large clumps of mesquite growing in it.

Wide flat section of the wash, mesquite growing along the sides

At about this time I came upon the bones of a bighorn. At least most of the bones were there, animals had carried of some parts. I followed the wash until it again became narrow and rocky and I decided that since I hadn't seen Roy in over an hour, I should head back.

Horn from the dead bighorn

I was surprised that on the way back down the route hadn't gotten any easier. I did get a message from Roy, he was back at the car and waiting. He mentioned that he had seen some petroglyphs by the dam and followed the wash out. I checked out the rock art, it consisted of a few faint markings in one small place. I then started out the old trail that we had seen on the other side of the wash, when we had been hiking to the mine.

Old trail along the hillside, leading to the "spring"

This trail turned out to be only a little better than what we had been on going to the mine. Once down at the car, we decided to drive along the powerline road just to look around. While driving we did see some much more significant rock art. We stopped and checked out several dozen petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs

Since it was getting late, we headed back down the road and while driving and talking about what a good day it had turned out to be, I saw a tarantula crossing the road. I yelled to Roy to stop, but he kept driving and I kept yelling at him to stop. Finally I told him we had probably run over a tarantula and then he stops and says, "Why didn't you tell me?". We then got out and walked back and much to our furry friends luck, we had just missed him, by less than a quarter of an inch.

A very lucky tarantula

Seeing the spider was a great ending to a very enjoyable day.

Beat the Heat

I decided that I wanted to do something with my daughter on the Fourth of July. Normally I have to work most of the day, but this year I didn't have to work until 4 pm. My daughter returned from a trip to South Africa with the Palm Springs High School band last week and we hadn't spent much time together since then. She liked the idea and asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I'd like to take a hike, but wasn't too sure about it, since the weather has been hot and humid, for us. She suggested an early start, I said sure but when she said 4:30 am, I was back pedaling very quickly. She then asked if I really wanted to go, so I reluctantly agreed to the early morning start.

Morning came all too soon and at 4:15 she asked if I still was planning on going. I said yes and staggered out of bed and by 4:40 we were on the road. As we headed down the road in the dark, I kept wonder how warm the high desert would be. Charlene asked me if I still was planning on hiking out to 49 Palms Oasis and I said yes. I picked this hike because I thought that trying to hike locally in the low desert would be too hot. I liked the idea of going up on the mountain, but I didn't have time to pick up an Adventure Pass. Fourth of July crowds on the tram would be unpleasant. That left Joshua Tree National Park, I thought about going to Ryan Mountain, but decided that again, I wouldn't have time to pick up a park pass. That left me with two options, hiking one of my favorite hikes in Joshua Tree, Rattlesnake Canyon, or 49 Palms. We have done Rattlesnake Canyon several times, so I thought she might like to go someplace different. As we drove through Yucca Valley we noticed some clouds in the east with alpenglow on them, very pretty.

Shortly after 6 am we arrived at the locked gate. 49 Palms is a day use area and they lock the gate at dusk and reopen sometime in the morning. We parked by the side of the road, got our gear together and started hiking up the road. We hadn't gone very far when Charlene let out an excited whisper "Bunny rabbit". Well, sure enough we saw a rabbit and took a picture. Then we went on up the road. Two minutes later we met a retired couple out for their morning walk, we said hi and wished each other a Happy 4th of July. In no time we reached the trailhead and left the pavement. I was surprised at the number of stair steps that had been installed, someone had gone to a lot of work. After about a quarter of a mile I noticed the stairs stopped and the trail became more of what I'm used to in the wilderness.

Bunny Rabbit

Trail Head

We were glad that we had left early, because even at this hour the temperature was starting to heat up and there was some humidity in the air. We had a pretty good climb to begin with and then the trail kind of leveled out and then started going downhill. I had last done this hike at least 15 years ago and my memory wasn't too good. I didn't recognize any part of the hike, other than I remember going downhill to the oasis. I thought the trail had been different, came in from the other direction and ended in a box canyon. Boy was I off. But that's OK, because it made the hike seem that much more worthwhile to me, plus the excitement of something new is always good.

On the trail

Trail starting to go downhill

The oasis coming into view

Once we arrived at the oasis we took a look around. Someone had been doing some trail maintenance and clean-up around the palms. We watched the birds, bugs and checked out the pools. After a quick snack and some rehydration it was time to go. While the oasis was still in shadow, the trail on the hike out wouldn't be.

The oasis

Wildlife in the oasis

Checking out one of the pools

Snack time

We had been hiking back towards the car for only a few minutes when we stopped to check out the view down canyon. Charlene asked me if I could see it. See what I replied. She said that she could see a Bighorn Sheep on the hillside across the canyon from us. I still couldn't see it and she pointed it out till it moved and then I saw it. We took pictures and watched it for several minutes, it was amazing how fast it could move on the steep and rugged terrain. Our video just didn't do it justice, but does give an idea of how fast it was. Then, with the temperature never far from my thoughts we started hiking again.

Can you spot the bighorn on the ledge?

Again we had only hiked a few minutes when we came around a corner and saw two more bighorns. These were a ram and ewe and the ram had a tremendous curl. Again we stopped and took pictures and watched for several minutes. I was surprised that they didn't run away, since most of the times I seen bighorn in the wild they are very skittish. These were only about 100 feet from us and just went about their business, almost as if we weren't there.

The ram is looking towards us, the ewe facing away

The ewe looking at us

We then continued on back along the trail, we saw what may have been a geocache in the the distance and more small creatures like lizards and rabbits.

Velvet ant

Lizard

Checking the web back home told me that I probably just saw a mylar balloon in the distance. When we were almost back to the parking lot we passed a group of three hikers who were on their way in. They said hello and complimented us on getting our exercise. They looked like they were in good shape, which is important when hiking in the heat.

Back at the parking lot

We were back at our car about ten minutes later, almost exactly two hours to the minute from when we left. While it was a great hike, I don't think I would have wanted to be out hiking in the heat any later in the day. Charlene, thanks for picking the early hour to leave.

Back at the car

To view some video from our hike,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_TliGONMG4