The Heat is ON

The first weekend of March featured the LaQuinta Art Festival. We had talked to several people that highly recommended this event. On Sunday, we decided to check it out. The event is huge with hundreds of artists showing and selling a wide variety of art. No flea market junk here....

There was a variety of interesting media and I enjoyed talking to a few of the folks displaying and selling photographic art.

We cut our stay a bit short when the wind started to pick up. Everyone was scrambling to secure their canopies and artwork as the winds started to increase to 25 kts+.

On Monday, two weeks after our first attempt at hiking in Indian Canyons (mountain lion problem), we returned and hiked a really nice loop trail. The temperatures were still quite nice for hiking (21C). We walked through a huge palm grove then climbed a ridge which provided great views of the snow capped peaks. Best hike so far.

The next day Chris and I had a game of golf at the North Course. We had the displeasure of getting teamed up with the worst a**hole I have ever encountered playing golf. He wouldn't wait for Chris to  hit from the ladies tee and drove up to the green to take his shot. It got so that if I was short of the green, I would aim at him rather than the pin. I'm sure he voted for Trump.

Mid week the weather gods flipped the switch to summer mode. It got hot in a hurry. Our long time friends John & Janet from The San Juan Islands in Washington State arrived on Friday for a few days visit. We hadn't seen them for a few years so it was fun catching up on what everyone had been up to.

On Saturday, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park and hiked the 49 Palms Trail with them.

With the weather a lot warmer, we saw a few more critters. A chuckwalla and desert tortoise.

After the hike we re-hydrated at the Joshua Tree Saloon and took a drive through the park on our way home. The wildflowers were starting to bloom in the area near the south entrance to the park.

We got home in time to greet another set of visitors from Sonoma CA, our very long time friends Jim & Sharon. We had a great time reminiscing as a group over supper and throughout the evening (Jim, John and I are all engineers from University of Waterloo)

Everyone wanted to go and see the "superbloom" of wildflowers in Anza-Borrego State Park so we all piled into the Highlander and headed out to Borrego Springs despite the 35C weather. I think everyone else in Southern California had the same idea. We got there early enough that we had some good viewing experiences before the traffic got really bad. We had to give up on a hike we wanted to do because of the traffic and limited parking.

We managed to get into a restaurant for lunch and on the way back, stopped at "The Slot" for a walk through the canyon.

Jim & I managed to get in a game of golf on Monday then the next day, we decided to return to Joshua Tree to do a hike. This was because it is significantly cooler there at the 5000 ft elevation. The 36C heat pretty well ruled out any hikes in the valley.

We stopped to walk in the wildflowers and cholla gardens.

We did the trail to the Lost Horse Mine. We never did find the horse.

All of the Joshua trees are in the north part of the park (they are not really trees, they are cactus). They are in full bloom now.

We also stopped at Key's View for a panoramic look at the Coachella Valley. You can almost see our place from there.

On Wednesday, the four of us went to the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens to see the BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament. It was the first time for Chris and I to watch a live tournament. We saw three good matches but the heat was bordering on unbearable. Again it was in the high 30's. We must have drank several litres of water each. I almost had the game figured out by the end.

Jim & Sharon went back to the tennis for a second day and we chilled out at the pool. The heat continued into the weekend so today (Sunday), we decided to head to the mountains to escape. We drove the Palms to Pines highway with a stop in the rustic mountain town of Idyllwild, a funky little town. The road climbs it way out of the valley.

Soon you are at 5000 ft elevation and in pine trees.

Idyllwild seems to be a daytime destination for folks from Southern California, lots of shops and quaint restaurants.

Coming back down from the mountains we had a great view of the Morongo Valley and San Gorgonio Mountain.

It looks like the temperatures are going to ratchet down to more normal levels this coming week so we should be able to get out and do some more hiking during our last couple of weeks here.

Keeping Busy in February

The last week and a half of February started out with a cool overcast Sunday but things were looking up for the rest of the week with sunny days forecast. We spent part of the day planning our trip home during April and some activities for the remainder of the week.

Monday (President's Day) we travelled to Palm Springs to go hiking at Indian Canyons, apparently some of the nicer trails in the area.

This area in within the Cahuilla Indian Reservation with a user fee to enter. It was pretty busy given that it was a school holiday and we had close to a half-hour wait to get in through the toll gate. When we got to the main trailheads at the Trading Post, we got one of the last parking spots. After getting set to go we started walking to the trailhead of the hike we selected when a Ranger pulls up and says the trail is closed and won't tell us why. We walked back to the Trading Post and started down another trail when another Ranger starts yelling at us to go back (He ends up being the Park Superintendent). Still no reason given. Slowly we figure out that there is some sort of critter on the loose but he won't confirm it and suggests we try another area of the park. By the time we get there, there are no parking spaces so we end up leaving. Looks like a nice park and we will have to return.

That evening on the news we find out a mountain lion was prowling the trail area. Apparently he/she moved to higher ground the next day. We will be vigilant when we return (they gave us a rain-check).

On the way to Indian Canyons we passed a number of cars parked at another trailhead so decided to see what it was all about. We ended up hiking the South Lykken Trail.

This was a nice 10km up and back trail with about 350m elevation. Most of the climbing happened in the first third and once we were up there, gave some fabulous views. We caught a glimpse of a flock of big horn sheep but there were too far away to get and decent photos. The amazing thing is how green the barren slopes have become after the unusual rains.

Tuesday was one of the nicest days so far and Chris and I enjoyed a game of golf.

Wednesday was to be a bit cooler so we thought we should do a return trip to Anza Borrego State Park and try some more trails there. It's about a 40 minute drive to the closest part of the park so we decided to do the Calcite Mine trail which climbs from a wash up a Jeep road to some slot canyons. These were really fun to navigate.

We arrived at the mine site and found a few pieces of calcite laying around. Apparently this mineral had a special value in the manufacture of bomb sights during WWII.

There were some good views of the badlands and Salton Sea from the summit of the trail.

We stopped in Borrego Springs at the Red Ocotillo Restaurant for lunch. Probably the best burger I have ever had or maybe I was just hungry.

We still had some time left so we thought we could try another trail and headed to "The Slot". This was a relatively short 4km in and out trail which we made a bit longer by missing the turn coming out. A very narrow slot canyon where you cannot get through with a backpack.

After we finished there, it was time to head home. Being in the canyon, we did not notice the wind increasing until we got to the SUV. By the time we got to the highway, it was a full blown sandstorm with limited visibility. Luckily we were going with the wind so I don't think the vehicle got sandblasted too bad.

Thursday was my Men's League Golf day so Chris had a day off at the pool and spa.

We heard about this equestrian centre in Thermal, about a 20 minute drive away so on Friday, we went out there to check out the facility. There must be over 1000 horses there for a month long session of competitions. Admission is free on the week days and we spent a couple of hours watching some jumping.

Continuing the horse theme, we went to the Empire Polo Club on Sunday to watch a couple of matches. We have never seen Polo played before and it was really interesting to watch. They have areas for tailgating where you can back your vehicle right up to the field and set up your chairs, food and drinks and watch the action.

Monday started the week with another all day rain. I waited for it to stop but it didn't so had to go out in the nasty weather to pick up some groceries for our company who were arriving the next day.

The next day we were up at the "crack of dawn" to go hiking with the Sun City Shadow Hills Hiking Club at Joshua Tree National Park. Our group of about a dozen hiker did the Mastadon Mine trail. It was a bit cool but was just nice for a hike over some rugged terrain.

Our long time friends from Phoenix, Brian & Linda,  arrived in the afternoon for a visit for a few days. We had a casual evening and dinner at our place including some great wine provided by our guests.

The cool weather was prevailing so we decided to head out shopping and Linda and Chris selected the Factory Outlet Mall at Cabazon (about half way to L.A.). Everyone scored a few good buys but no-one equalled the bus load of Chinese shoppers who descended on the Coach store. There must have been 30 shoppers in line checking out, each with 10 - 15 purses worth $100 - $300 each. Go figure????

We had been checking out some interesting "off beat" places to visit in the area and decided to take a drive to Pioneertown. This was an old Western Movie set from a few decades ago. In the middle of nowhere!

There was a western style restaurant there that had lots of cars and motorcycles parked around it and we decided to have our lunch there. Well, Pappy & Harriets is quite the happening place. They have live entertainment five nights a week. A surprise entertainer last fall was Paul McCartney who heard about the place and decided to do an impromptu gig there.

Friday our guests headed home to Phoenix and we enjoyed the nice temperatures to spend the afternoon at the pool and spa.

Saturday, one of my old work colleagues from OPG was in town for a conference and we managed to hook up for a golf game at Shadow Hills along with my friend John from here.

We had a fun game and managed to get caught up on the OPG "State of the Nation". Greg came back to our place for some drinks and a BBQ before having to head back to Palm Springs for a dreadful week of work.

Next week looks to be starting off a bit cool again but the promise of low 30's for mid week has provided some anticipation for some of the "normal" weather for the area. The rain and cool weather has built a lot of anticipation for a "Superbloom" of wildflowers in the surrounding desert areas. I'm getting the photography and video equipment ready to document the event!

Next report in a couple of weeks.