Back to Desert Hot Springs Part 2

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A storm came thru the area over Christmas bringing rain and dropping the temperature quite a bit. Not freezing but still a cold walk back to the rig after spending a half hour in the hot tubs. The benefit of this front going thru was it brought a lot of snow to the nearby mountains. I think of it as White Christmas at a distance. Even the hills in the direction of Joshua Tree National Park got hit with a half foot of snow which isn’t very normal.

Fresh Snow in Mountains

We head out for another hike in Rancho Mirage. This time the plan is to take the just over 2 mile Chuckwalla Trail Loop. Our parking instructions said to park in the lot near city hall, but when we arrived, the signs stated parking for official city business. We felt hiking the nearby trail may not qualify. So we drove up the road but it was even more clear as we got to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel parking wasn’t available there. Back down the hill to city hall but this time we noticed the small sign for trail parking to the right. They even provide covered parking spots so our car won’t need to sit in the sun! There are several trails that start from here but the Chuckwalla is across the street.

Start of Chuckwalla

There isn’t a lot of climbing, but enough to get another great view of the valley and distance snow capped mountains. The loop ends up circling around one of the small upscale developments just across the street from the hotel. Of course, I suspect there aren’t any low rent districts in Rancho Mirage. The last part of the trail basically follows the road back down to the parking lot which is where we found a pretty nice water feature.

Better View of Valley and Mountains from Trail

Water Feature

We invited our friends Debbie and Kent over for lunch and then took advantage of the extra set of wristbands so we could all go over and enjoy the hot tubs. The place was a bit more crowded than normal since it was the week between Xmas and New Years but it was still good to get to catch up with what they have been up to.  A couple days later we ran into them again at a geocaching event at a Starbucks in Indio. There were about 15 people at the event and most of them are fellow wanderers like us. Some full time and others snow birds.

Beautiful Sunset at Sam's

We had heard good things about the hiking at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve. It’s less than a half hour drive just to the northwest of camp. There are multiple trails and even a few geocaches to find along the way. We did the short Marsh Trail when we first arrived so we could come back to the car and have our lunch before doing the more substantial trail we were planning. It’s a very pretty place with some boardwalk portions in sections that might occasionally get wet. Even with the recent weather, the trail was in great shape. We caught glimpses of the nearby mountains with the fresh snow.

Distant Snow Capped Mountains

After lunch, our long hike would come in just over four miles. Our loop consisted of sections of several trails: Marsh, Mesquite, West Canyon. There was some decent climbing but the trails were in good shape and well marked. About halfway thru the West Canyon Trail, another trail heads off to the south. This is the Canyon Trail which goes nearly four miles. We opt to follow it for a mile or so simply to find a geocache. It was a pretty area and decent hiking. We may have been tempted to continue further but the next cache was a couple miles away. So we head back to West Canyon Trail.

View Along the Trail

Rugged Terrain

Weaving the Hills

At the intersection of the Mesquite trail, we backtrack a bit to check out something named the Slip Fault Deck. It sounded intriguing but when we got there, it was just an outcropping of ancient gneiss that marks the face of the Morongo Valley Fault. We found the old car that was half buried in the trail much more interesting. We decided to follow the Yucca Ridge Trail. There was a good climb to get to the top of the ridge, but the views it provided of the preserve and surrounding mountains was worth it. At the Desert Willow Trail, we turn right and are back to the parking lot in about half a mile. This was a beautiful area and very enjoyable walk.

A Real Fixer-Upper

View from Ridge

We also headed back to Joshua Tree National Park during our stay. We had done a few really good hikes there two years ago, but knew there were others that we just hadn’t been able to squeeze in. JTNP is around 4200 feet in elevation - over 3000 higher than our campground. We had waited a week after the Xmas snowstorm to come up, but there was still lots of snow remaining even though the roads were perfectly dry. Our first stop was at Hidden Valley. The one mile loop trail is supposed to be one of the prettiest in the park.

Near Start of Hidden Valley Trail

Being only a mile long, we figured it would be a rather easy walk. While much of the trail was clear of snow, the portions that were on the north side of rock outcroppings don’t get much sunlight with the low winter sun angle. The snow had been packed down by other visitors, melted slightly and then froze. It made for an extremely treacherous walk. We were fortunate and each had a hiking pole with us. The family just ahead of us on the trail were slipping all over the place. Even with our boots and a pole, we nearly fell several times. Let’s just say those sections of the trail weren’t much fun even though the scenery was spectacular.

Snow at Hidden Valley

Our second stop was to do the Ryan Ranch Trail. There is a small parking area just beyond the turn into the Ryan Campground. It’s probably one mile round trip out to the remnants of the old ranch. Along the way, we notice a group of rock climbers on a large outcropping several hundred feet to the west. One had already gotten to the top of what appeared to be 40 to 50 foot tall balanced rock and he was instructing the several others that were trying to do the same. There’s a lot I don’t understand about rock climbers. While the mechanics or logistics the the actual climbing elude me, the bigger mystery is the mindset required to even want to attempt something so dangerous.

Climber on Top

Just beyond the climbers, we arrive at the remaining wall sections from the old Ryan ranch home built in the late 1800’s. With what is left, one needs to use a lot of imagination in order to picture what it might have looked like. They had a beautiful place to live although it was probably a tough life.

Remnants of Ryan Ranch

Nearby View from Ranch

Distance View

Just a bit further down the park road is the Hall of Horrors area of the park. This is a popular place for rock climbers. There’s just over a half mile loop that goes around one of the large rock features. We were able to spot a couple people near the top as we made the loop. There was still a decent amount of snow on the ground but this path wasn’t nearly as slick as the first one.

Hall of Horrors

The Jumbo Rocks area of the park is a very popular stopping point for visitors. I suspect because one of the rock formations is named Skull Rock. We had stopped to check it out 2 years ago but really hadn’t explored the rest of the area nearby. It took us awhile to find a parking spot along the road but once we did, we ate lunch before heading out to explore. Generally we have a trail picked out but this time we were just winging it. The first goal was to get away from the crowds of people waiting to get their picture with Skull Rock. We didn’t need to walk more than a few hundred feet before we were almost by ourselves. The rocks in this area are rather interesting.

Slotted Rock

Lots of Jumbo Rocks

We eventually ran into the backend of the Jumbo Rocks Campground. They had a map showing the trails in the area. It turned out we were on the Skull Rock Nature Trail. Our choices were to simply backtrack the half mile or continue on the 1.7 mile loop. We figured we had only been doing really short hikes today so we continued on the loop. The next section of the trail basically follows the campground road. It seems to be a nice enough campground but wouldn’t be suitable for large rigs. Tents or small trailers seemed to the the majority of the occupants.

The trail continues across the main park road and continues to have unusual rock formations to admire and marvel at just how they have been formed over time. The trail eventually turns back towards the road and we make our way to the car.

We felt like we had one more hike in us so we continued down the park road to a dirt road leading back to the Split Rock Picnic Area. The two mile Split Rock Loop trail starts near the end of the picnic area. This too was a very busy place at least from a parking standpoint. But once on the trail, it didn’t seem too bad. The trail was in good shape and well marked. We barely saw any snow here which was okay by us. Being very near the last loop we did, it’s not too surprising that there are some cool rock formations along this loop as well. We managed to get in 5 hikes at JTNP today. We still haven’t seen the whole place but there’s always next time.

Along Split Rock Trail

Odd Rock Formation - I See an Elephant

Even though we were tired and it was late afternoon, Chris had one more stop she had read about and it sounded quirky enough to deserve a visit. The Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Museum is about 4 miles north of the town of Joshua Tree. The terrain north of town is generally mostly flat high desert that doesn’t seem so appealing to us. Noah moved to Joshua Tree in 1989 at the age of 72. He lived on his ten acre lot for 15 years before passing away. He was known as an “assemblage artist”. Undoubtedly you’re like us and don’t really know what that means. It didn’t take long to walk around a portion of his old “studio” to get a better sense of what he did. Simply put, he collected junk and assembled it together in odd configurations. I don’t think there was one piece of “art” that really spoke to us. Maybe that’s a good thing? It reminded us of another eclectic junk artist we visited in Palm Springs 2 years ago. Robolights is a similar collection of art on the property of the artist Kenny Irwin Jr. we had really wanted to go back and see his creations again but he is in the process of moving his work from The upscale Palm Springs neighborhood to Desert Hot Springs. Maybe it will be up and running for our next trip. Here's a link to the blog post describing Robolights. As for our stop at the Outdoor Desert Museum, not our best find. Maybe you’re inner artist will feel the message each piece was intended to produce.

Toilet Art

No Upper Torsos!

No Clue

Another repeat outing for us was to go to Indio and take in a polo match. During the winter months, the polo club has matches on Sundays open to the general public - free admission but $20 parking. One side of the field is for general admission folks like us. You may bring a chair or blanket along with your own food and drink. The other side is the fancy side with large tents and catered meals. The matches start at noon but you must get there a couple hours early if you hope to have good viewing. We lucked out and got a spot right up front next to a nice couple originally from Washington state. Even the cheap side of the field had some roped off areas with large patio umbrellas, tables, chairs and even sofas!

General Admission to our Right

The Fancy Area to Our Left

The polo match starts out like many other sporting events with the singing of the National Anthem. The flag bearer however is on a horse that gallops around the perimeter of the field (300 yards by 160 yards). She started on the far side at the beginning of the song and attempts to finish the lap at the end of the song. That horse was really flying at the end to get the timing right.

Flag Bearer Approaches Our Spot

At Full Gallop

The two teams consist of four players each. At both ends of the field are goal posts set 24 feet apart. The idea of the game is simple - hit the ball thru the goal with a mallet. The completely fascinating aspect is this hitting takes place while standing in the stirrups of a galloping horse with mallet in the right hand, reigns in the left and holding onto the horse with only one’s legs.

Mallets Up Above

The match is broken into 6 periods called chukkers which are each seven and a half minutes long. At the end of each chukker, there is a short break while the riders trade for a fresh horse. If you do the simple math, 48 horses are used in each match! Plus there are two officials on horseback and occasionally a horse will need to be swapped out if there is an injury or equipment failure. Polo isn’t a cheap sport!

Spare Horses for During Match

Even though we really don’t understand the rules or strategy of polo, we still find it very entertaining to watch. Our neighbors at the match have seen many matches over the years and tried to help explain some of the action, but I think we’re better off just keeping a cursory understanding of the game.

Announcer Across the Field

A Break in the Action

The first match of the day is between two more skilled teams and there wasn’t a ton of scoring. I suppose there was better defense. Two less experienced teams compete in the second match and there was more scoring although there were some wide open, easy shots that would go wide left or right. It seemed like the two matches flew by and before we knew it they were over.

Hard Turn

Big Windup for Hit

We got in one more hike. It’s often called the Museum Trail since it starts right behind the Palm Springs Art Museum. However we didn’t want to do a simple out and back trail. Since this trail intersects with others, we decided to do both the Museum Trail and the North Lykken Trail. Even this combination doesn’t make for a loop so we improvised and parked our car in the trailhead lot at the end of East Ramon Road. The. We walked thru the streets of Palm Springs to get us over to the museum. The logic was: it would be nicer to come off the real trail to the car rather than needing to still walk thru town after the trail section. BTW, Palm Spring uses fancy terminology for speed bumps - “Traffic Calming”.

AKA - Speed Bump

We were very glad we did this loop in the counterclockwise direction. The Museum Trail is quite rock and very steep. We were struggling to go up the hill, but those we saw coming down were having great difficulty with their footing on the loose rocks. Another victory for scoping the trail out first in our All Trails app. By gaining elevation quickly, the views over town get great right away. I took lots of photo breaks in order to also catch my breath.

Rocky Trail Continues Up

Nice View Over Palm Springs

Near the intersection with the North Lykken Trail are a couple of picnic tables with killer views we hadn’t brought lunch along since we were doing an early morning walk, but this would have been the place for lunch. Once on the other trail heading south, we are generally going downhill and it is a reasonably gradual slope. At one photo stop, I noticed a motion behind us along the trail we were on. There was a group of 12 male bighorn sheep. We must have just missed them. Had we stopped at the picnic table for just a few minutes longer, we likely would have gotten an up close view. As it was, we enjoyed watching them until they ran off over the other side of the hill.

Pretty Sky

Herd of Bighorn Sheep

Look Closely - 12 Bighorn Males

We slowly worked our way back to the E Ramon trailhead and could even see the Jeep waiting patiently for us to return. This was a fun 4 mile hike made more so by how close it is to civilization. We normally expect to be in the middle of nowhere to experience this type of terrain and wildlife.

Heading Back to Car at Ramon Rd

We got some good hikes and sights in while at Sam’s but admittedly we spent many a day being lazy with our only real adventure being our daily walk over to the mineral hot tubs. I did manage to change out the faucet in the bathroom. The original one was eight years old and never seemed to have the proper dimensions to fit the sink. I’ve learned to take the old one in with me to make sure I have all the required fittings. We had all sorts of other things we planned to do but just never seemed to get to them. It was nice to be able to relax a bit and it will just mean there will still be things to see and do for a future trip.

The other thing we worked on while at Sam’s was to plan where we will head after winter ends and things start to heat up in the desert southwest. Originally I was thinking of going to Colorado and spending the bulk of the spring, summer and fall in that beautiful state. We just barely touched the southwest corner of the state on our way to Albuquerque and knew there was much more to see and do. However, this year is the 20th anniversary of Geocaching. There are several events planned in Seattle and just across the border in British Columbia Canada. We figure Colorado will always be there so maybe we should head back to the Pacific Northwest.

We have done multiple day trips into Canada but have never taking the motorhome across. Although if we are going to head into Canada, maybe we should plan more extensive travels. The Geocaching events aren’t until August so we started to do a bit more investigation. The Calgary Stampede is another one of those bucket list items many travelers have. That event is in early July. And if we are going to be in Calgary, several of Canada’s more famous (and popular) National Parks are very close by. You’ve likely heard of Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise. They are all in the Canadian Rockies and are supposed to be quite beautiful. Many people will work in a day of two at each as they head up to Alaska but they seemed to be worth a more substantial visit.

When we started to look into camping options in each of these areas, we realized that the Canadian National Parks do have some campgrounds with sites large enough for our rig. However they have an odd reservation system. Many campgrounds have a rolling reservation window. Where they allow reservations a certain number of months in advance usually in the 4 to 12 month range. This works out well because those that want to stay someplace in May with a 6 month rolling window will want to book their sites in the prior November but those wanting to camp in September wouldn’t need to book in the prior March. 

Unfortunately the Canadian National Park system uses a fixed date starting point for the whole summer season. That means that on a particular day and time in January, the reservation system accepts requests for the whole season at the given campgrounds. The good news was, we were considering our plans a week or so prior to the system going live. So we were able to roughly sketch out our travel plans and pick dates for each campground that would work into a good flow for our travel plans. The good thing was that of the three campgrounds we were wanting to stay in, one opened its booking a day ahead of the other two.

We had our plans all figured out and had played around on the booking website so we understood  how it might work. At 7AM we’re we’re each logged into the system on two different laptops under two different account names to maximize our chances. When the system went live, we both tried to book the sites and dates we wanted. It didn’t help that that first campground only had 4 sites big enough for our rig. As the system was overwhelmed, the response time slowed to a crawl. After 90 minutes of trying, our hope of getting a week on one site turned into only five days and it was split into two days in one site and three days in another site. Not ideal but better than nothing.

The following day we had a bit better luck getting what we wanted but it helped that there were a few dozen possible sites at these campgrounds. With these places and dates set, we were able to start to map out our travel plans a bit more although it we still have a fair amount of flexibility before and after our reservation dates. I’ll include a map of our rough route that will get refined in the upcoming weeks and months. We don’t expect nor do we want to have the whole thing cast in concrete but having a few of the important spots nailed down will help us fine tune the route.

Our Potential 2020 Travel Route

Our next immediate stop will be back to the BLM lands in Quartzsite Arizona for the Gathering in the Desert with our Newmar friends.