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
February 18, 2008
February 07, 2008
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.
February 06, 2008
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).
January 12, 2008
San Jacinto State Park to close?
I don't know if this is a real possibility or perhaps the governator is just setting us up for new taxes. Here is a link from the Desert Sun on the subject.
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801110375
Interesting and useful web site
Received some messages from two people, Cara Fletcher and Cy Kaicener, involved in the Mtsanjacinto.info website. If you click on their names, there are links to their web sites. There is a very interesting link to some pictures of a hike up the Skyline trail. They had to spend the night because of the snow. It looks cold.
Look for their comments in the We encourage submission to this blog entry, just above or click on "comments 17." The new interesting comments are the last three.
The following is a link that discusses the hiker lost in the San Bernardino Mountains.
http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/viewtopic.php?t=590
The next link contains pictures of the Skyline hike.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21042415@N02/sets/72157603478242447/
Cy http://www.hiking4health.com
This is the link to San Jacinto info. site.
January 06, 2008
Sat Dec 15--North View/Maze/Window Rock Loop
The North View/Maze/Window Rock Loop is a series of new trails just finished in Joshua Tree National Park. The following are pictures taken by Nikki on the Saturday December 15th hike led by Elize and Paulette. The parking place for the hike is just a little ways from the Joshua Tree entrance. I will look for a picture of the Window Rock.
Suzanne's Split Rock Hike
This Saturday, Suzanne Randel led a hike in Joshua Tree National Park. There was a chance of rain but except for a few sprinkles the weather was nice. The clouds changed the color of everything so that it looked like a different Joshua Tree than we were used to. We looked as some old mines and a house built in the rocks.
McCoy petroglyph campout and hike
Friday November 9th, 10th, and 11th we made another trip to the McCoy Spings petroglyphs. We took many new pictures. Here are some that were taken by Billie Harken.
Here is another picture of our campout. 
January 04, 2008
Interesting disclamer
Here is an interesting disclamer I found on the Internet Tubes. Maybe we should use parts of it for our club disclamer.
