Coachella Valley Hiking Club Blog

Sunday the 17th was our annual hike through the Wonderland of Rocks from Queen Mountain to Willow Hole. We left some cars at the Boy Scout Trail head and traveled over to the parking place at Queen Mountain. We navigated using GPS, compass, and map and were able to follow our course perfectly. The distance was about 10 miles and a good part of it involved rock scrambling. There were 13 of us and everyone had a good time. I hope to get some more pictures soon.

 

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Here is a map of the Wonderland of Rocks and our course.

Wonderful pictures by Billie Harkin

Here are some pictures of flowers taken by Billie Harkin on the Red Canyon Trail 4-wheel drive trip. She took them with a little Canon Elf camera. They speak for themselves.

Never go into the desert without telling someone where you are

Here is a link to a Desert Sun article by Jim Cornet sent to me by Ron Chang

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200802170115/COLUMNS08/802170308

New book on Hiking Trails near Palm Springs

I just received in the mail a book by Laura Randall titled Day & Overnight Hikes Palm Springs. Click on the link to see more about the book or to order one from Amazon.com. The book contains excellent description of local trails including maps and GPS coordinates. There are 32 hikes listed and they cover most popular hike in the Valley, Santa Rosas, San Jacinto, and Joshua Tree. This is a good resource. The description are clear and the directions are easy to follow. I especially like the elevation profiles that give a better idea of what is in store for the hiker.

                     

Hike to Wind Caves

Last Sunday Ron Chang led another hike to the Wind Caves, south of Anza Borrego. As can be seen by the pictures, there were rain clouds in the West but they never made it past the mountains. The wind was blowing at least 50-70 knots and there were times when we could hardly stand up. We, of course, took the hard way over the ridge and at time felt we were going to blow away. There are some pictures of some of the fossels that can be found at the Wind Cave site. We left them there for others to enjoy.

Next time we might take the easy way and go by the trail.

          

Jeep Trip

Saturday February 2 a group of us took a trip to the Bradshaw trail by way of Red Canyon Trail. Here are some pictures of the trip. Most of them speak for themselves. This first set are pictures taken by Sharon Ranson who was in the Range Rover. There were many flowers blooming and we got lots of pictures. Everyone brought something to eat. Nothing went wrong that we couldn't handle.

 

   

On the Red Canyon Trail, we saw two vehicles coming at us. One of the drivers would only say it was a UK military vehicle. He had a British accent. I googled it and found out that it is a brand new design built in the UK for the SAS or Parras to use in Afganistan. They were either testing them or trying to sell them to the Marines. What they were doing over near the Bradshaw Trail, I can't imagine. I think the club should buy one.

Here are a few of the flower pictures. They are in order: Tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia), Phacelia crenalata, Rock daisy (Perotyle emoryi), Desert star (Monoptilon Bellioides), Sand Blazing Star (Mentzalia involucrata), California primrose (Camissonia brevipes), Desert sun flower (Geraea canescens), bombs, Ghost flower (Mohavea confertiflora), Phacelia distans, prickly poppy (Argemone coymbosa), Mohave-aster (Zylorbiza tortifolia).