Whitewater River

Every time I drive east of Palm Springs, I pass an exit on I-10 called whitewater. If driven up that way before, but never all the way to the Whitewater Preserve. Leon and I were trying new spots for hiking this time around, so we thought we'd give it a try.

When we first arrived, it didn't look like much- lots of mowed grass around an old fish hatchery. The overall effect was like a city park. Eventually we found the trail system, and discovered a lovely bit of wilderness where the mountains meet the desert.

The Whitewater River drains out of the mountains around Big Bear. It's a year-round water source in an otherwise rather arid region. The trail begins by going upstream. Eventually it crosses the river, goes a short distance up a side canyon, and then switchbacks sharply up hill to a plateau overlooking the valley. The weather was just about perfect, and the views were magnificent.


There was not a lot in bloom this late in the season. I'm always a bit disoriented when I venture out in a part of the world that I don't know well- the few blooming plants that I saw were mostly unfamiliar. The pale pink blossom appears to be a composite, possibly related to chickory. Down by the river we saw a few plants with amazing bright orange flowers that I thought might be some sort of Justicia. You would think that such a showy, conspicuous flower would be easy to identify- but so far I've had no luck. Update 11/2/15: the red flowers are Cardinal Monkey Flower, Mimulus cardinalis.  



We didn't see many insects, either. There were a couple of cloudless sulphur butterflies, and a very active little carabid beetle. When we stopped for lunch, a darkling beetle ventured out of its hiding place and started eating a crumb from my sandwich.



I would love to go back at a different time of the year when the insects might be more interesting. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to return in November- it was a beautiful spot in very easy reach of Palm Springs.

In the Desert with Dr. Steve

Impressive Lenticular Cloud

I have been remiss in not writing the final post from my trip to California in March. After the IBCM (Imperiled Butterfly Conservation and Management) course I stayed on to meet up with Dr. Steve in Palm Springs and spend some time in the desert. Dr. Steve is a chiropractor from Los Angeles. It's hard to believe that I have now known him for fifteen years.

On Saturday we hiked in Murray Canyon, one of the Indian Palm Canyons south of Palm Springs. Our hike began on a gloriously sunny day. The desert wildflowers were in bloom and we were treated to views of an impressive lenticular cloud over the mountains.

Dr. Steve Hopping on Rocks

The stream in Murray Canyon flows year round. The trail crosses the stream many times. There was lots of rock hopping as we crisscrossed the stream. This took some getting used to, but there were no seriously wet feet.

View of the Washingtonia Palms

Most of the trail is lined with desert fan palms (Washingtonia filifera), a species that I always enjoy visiting. We saw a fair number of butterflies, however few of them posed for a photo.

Bottom of the Cascade at the End of the Trail

The trail ends at a cascading waterfall. Unfortunately the spring runoff had the stream levels very high, so I was unable to position myself for a good photo of the whole cascade. As we were there on a Saturday, the trail was surprisingly crowded. There must have been between 50 and 100 people in the canyon that day.

Another hiker snapped this photo of me and Dr. Steve at the waterfall

Dr. Steve really enjoyed the hike (as did I). It's always an enjoyable opportunity to spend time outdoors with a friend that I don't get to see often enough.

Diamond Desert

I stayed late after the IBCM conference to go out and see springtime in the desert. I got to spend a delightful day hiking and insect watching out by Desert Hot Springs.


The weather was mostly sunny but cool, and there was even rain and snow in the nearby mountains. It made for marginal insect viewing. On the other hand, I got to see a really nice rainbow.


The spring flowers were beautiful. I was drawn to the above hillside, which was covered with desert dandelion and desert chickory.


The desert dandelion flowers were being visited by a beautiful little moth in the genus Heliolonche. The air temperature was cool enough that they were readily approachable for photography. I must have seen about a dozen.


There's something about hiking alone out in the desert that I find very restorative. The day after this hike, I met up with my friend Dr. Steve from Los Angeles, and we hiked together in the palm canyons. I'll try to get photos from that day up soon.

A Day on the Mountain

Mt. San Jacinto is the mountain that looms above Palm Springs. It has a huge vertical drop- the summit is at 10,834'. The elevation of downtown Palm Springs is about 500 feet. For several years now, Leon and I have hiked partway up the mountain during our visits. We have wanted to hike up to the upper terminal of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, however it's a long and steep hike, and we have always turned back partway up.

This year we decided to get an early start and really try to get to the tram. The trail begins right at the end of Ramone Road, about half a mile from where we were staying. It's not very long- only about 8 miles to the tram. We have easily gone that distance on other day hikes, however this trail involves an 8,000 foot elevation gain.

Leon at the trailhead

Looking fresh at 7:30 AM

We left the hotel just after 7. Michael opted to spend the day poolside, so it was just Leon and me this time out.

The views of Palm Springs were spectacular

The trail begins in desert and quickly rises high above the city. We were treated to spectacular views throughout the day. It was sunny and beautifully warm at the lower elevations. Probably due to the lateness of he season, I saw very few insects. I did manage to get a photo of a pretty beetle and a variegated meadowhawk dragonfly.

Cool beetle

Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum)

The climb gives a beautiful lesson in the alpine life zones of southern California. Desert gives way to the shrubby scrub land known as chaparral. This is an ecosystem that I have less familiarity with. I always find it disorienting when I'm someplace where I don't know the names of even the common, conspicuous plants.

Chaparral

Up in the chaparral zone the views are amazing

Eventually, trees begin appearing. The hike ends in ponderosa pine forest at the tram station. The air up here is thin. Between the elevation and the prolonged exertion of hiking we were really wiped when we got to the tram at about 4 in the afternoon. I have few photos of the end of the hike. What really amazes me is that after the tram ride down, we still had the energy to go out to dinner with Michael and a couple of other guys that we had met at the resort. I guess we were hungry.

Trees!
I think I would have died if I had known that there was still
nearly 2 hours of hiking in front of us here

Side benefits of the hike: I have restarted my running program, run more than 15 miles each week , and dropped 8 pounds since this hike. Michael wants us to repeat this (with him) next year, and I want to be in better shape for it.

Autumn in the Desert

It's hard to believe that I've been back from California for 2 1/2 week already. Nearly every November, Leon and I head out to the desert east of San Diego and Los Angeles. Palm Springs is our base of operations. This year we were joined by our friend Michael. For the first weekend, we were also joined by UrSpo and his partner who drove over from Phoenix.

Indian Palm Canyon

The five of us did a delightful hike in the Indian Palm Canyons. It was fun to introduce Michael to the palm oasis ecosystem, and to go for yet another hike with Urspo and his partner. I also enjoyed all the dragonflies that we saw that day. We also had fun watching all the hummingbirds up at the trading post.

Bluet (Enallagma sp.)

Hummingbird

On Monday, after the Spos had returned to Phoenix, we visited Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills. Although I brought my camera, I left the memory card in the computer back at the resort. As a result, i enjoyed lugging a useless camera up the canyon and back. The photography on Tuesday was much better at Joshua Tree.

Michael with Joshua Trees

Cute Ground Squirrel

Leon at the crest of the hike

We really enjoyed introducing Michael to some of our favorite desert spots. I'll save the rest of our adventures, including a major mountain hike, for further postings.

Moonrise at Joshua Tree

Carnival of the Arid

Carnival of the Arid #2 is up at the Coyote Crossing blog. Check out everyone's offerings of desert love for March.

Desert Bloom

Sand Verbena blooms near Borrego Springs

I spent the end of last week in southern California. The Institute for Museum and Library Services presented a forum as part of their Connecting to Collections series. This installment focused on the challenge of maintaining living collections. It was very informative, and it took place in San Diego, a lovely city that I always enjoy visiting.

The conference was Thursday and Friday, so I took advantage of the weekend and spent Saturday in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. If you have never visited Anza Borrego, you are really missing something. It's a huge park- the size of many counties here in Illinois. It contains fine examples of relatively pristine Colorado Desert. Leon and I hiked there last November.

Badlands

The desert is amazing when it's in full bloom. I was a bit early for that, but I did get to see some of the first hints of the spring floral show. Just outside of Borrego Springs, there was a stunning display, seen at the top of the post. Sand Verbena dominated, but there were other interesting flowers, as well.

Sand Verbena (Abronia Villosa)


Dunes Evening Primrose (Oenothera deltoides)


Brown-eyed Primrose (Camissonia claviformis)

Wild Heliotrope (Phacelia distans)

My journey took me on to the San Felipe Creek. I like visiting that spot, because I frequently see Becker's Whites flitting along the canyon walls. I've been disappointed on my last few visits, however this time I was able to connect. I got to see (and photograph) a few insect species in flowers along the creek here. I even got a peek at a Sonoran Blue, an amazing, gorgeous insect. Sadly, it would not land so there's no photo.

San Felipe Creek

Becker's White (Pontia beckerii)

Hemipteran on Bladderpod (Isomeris arborea)


Elegant Blister Beetle (Eupompha elegans)

I very briefly headed partway up the Banner Grade, hoping to spend some time in chaparral. It was too cold- in fact I think there was a fair bit of snow up at Julian. I was not interested in a winter experience here, so I opted to stay in the desert and headed over towards Ocotillo Wells. There were lots more wildflowers. I even got to see a desert lily in bloom.

Mojave Poppy (Eschscholzia glyptosperma)


Desert Chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana)


Desert Dandelion (Malcothrix glabrata)


Desert Lily (Hesperocallis undulata)

It was hard to return to winter in Chicago. We did have some magnificent thunderstorms last night. Perhaps spring will be a bit more timely in its arrival than it was last year.

New Blog Carival - Carnival of the Arid

Chris Clarke runs a wonderful desert blog called Coyote Crossing. He's started up a new blog carnival called Carnival of the Arid. If you love the desert, go check it out. If you don't love the desert, go check it out. You need to learn to love the desert.