Coachella Valley Hiking Club Blog

The Whitewater Trout Factory bought by Friends of the Desert Mountains

I heard about this from Joan Taylor. It looks like this is an opportunity for some new hikes. One from Verbena Avenue to the trout farm, one from Mission Creek to the trout farm, and one that hikes up the Whitewater River.  Some of us drove out there last week and the area is still covered with no trespassing signs. As soon as I find a contact person I will find out the situation.

Below is a quotation from the Desert Sun's web site.

"Built in 1939 by John Shearer, the trout farm was recently acquired by Friends of the Desert Mountains for nearly $3.4 million, with help from grants from the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation of San Francisco. The popular site was closed to the public in May."    "Making a stand at Whitewater" July 16, 2006.

This article is in their archive so I can't link to it. The article is mostly about the Sawtooth fire anyway. According to Joan, this area will be administered by the people who run Mission Creek and Pipes Canyon.

Hidden Lake Closed

I just received a phone call from the director of the San Jacinto State Park and he was concerned about some hikes that I had scheduled up to Hidden Lake. I guess that Hidden Lake is officially closed and has been sence 2001. I pointed out and he told me that Richard Simons had pointed it out also that there are no signs. He said that they were going to put some signs in place. This is an effort to protect the San Jacinto or Hidden Lake Wooly Blue Curl that only grows at Hidden Lake. I have never seen it there and I am not sure what it looks like.  I am going to keep talking to these people and at least, maybe we can do a hike there with a biologist. We have to wait to see. Here are some pictures of Hidden Lake so we can see what we are missing. The flower is not a blue curl.

   

Hiking tool you can't do without.

I my opinion, it would be the height of irresponsibility not to carry this invaluable tool on a hike.

Link

Kennedy Meadows Trip

August 11 - 13 a group of us went to Kennedy Meadows in the Sequoia National Forest. We camped at the Kennedy Meadow Campground and it was great to get away from the desert heat. Saturday we went to the Black Rock Trailhead and hiked down to Casa Vieja Meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness. The first three pictures were taken by Steve Stevenson who always does a good Job.

On the way home, we drove up Indian Wells Canyon and looked at an old gold mine that is being maintained by the BLM. It looks like a good place for a car camp. There is supposed to be pictographs nearby and there is a good hike to the top of Owen's Peak