Continued...
Today's peaks were a collection of summits around the community of La Quinta on
the west side of the Coachella Valley. The hills here, really the western edge
of the Santa Rosa Mtns, are very rugged and make for a stunning backdrop to the
retirement and golf communities that use them for a backdrop. Despite their
proximity to pavement and civilization, they seem to get very little traffic.
I'd spent the night camped further south in the valley where agriculture is
still dominant and it isn't hard to find a flat, quiet field, far from traffic.
In the morning I was up early and finding my way towards the Lake Cahuilla
Recreation Area.
Coral Mountain
Though little more than 500ft in height, the summit has 360ft of prominence,
sitting detached from the other peaks of the Santa Rosa Mtns. Though
unofficially named, there are numerous references to it in the surrounding
communities including the Coral Mtn Estates to the north, the Estate Collection
of Coral Mountain to the southeast, and a Coral Mtn Trailhead shown on Google
Maps to the north. This isn't any sort of official trailhead, at least
currently, lying on undeveloped land on the south side of 58th Ave adjacent to
a development that fell by the wayside after being initially graded. There are
several dirt roads that can be accesses from the west end of 58th, just before
entering Cahuilla Park. The BLM land is signed for no vehicles near the start,
but then there are numerous
following this that contradict
the initial sign. It appears to be regularly driven and the area is also used
for overnight stays. It would make for an excellent car camping spot, all
perfectly legal, far as I could tell. The highpoint of Coral Mtn is found at
the southern end of a modest ridge with access from the west or east. I didn't
know about the BLM road on the west side that would make for a shorter
approach, so I used another road on the east side. Lots of trash and shooting
debris in the area. I managed to drive the jeep to within 1/3mi of the summit
to and went up from there, initially up a
, then along a portion of
with some easy class 3. The granitic rock
had various soft colors including a light pink that seemed to give credence to
the Coral Mtn name. I used this in I left at the summit
since I
found none. While at the summit I noticed the wash
that looked to
have a road along its length that I thought might be helpful for the next
peak. I descended to the southeast as an alternative, finding a trail system
at the bottom that I could use to take me up and over a levee and back to my
starting point. There were other users of the area on foot, walking and jogging
in the early morning, suggesting it's regularly used for recreation.
Boo Hoff Peak
This summit is found about 2mi west of Coral Mtn. I drove back out to 58th Ave
and then made my way to the dirt road I'd seen from Coral Mtn's summit. I drove
about 2mi to the south and southwest on this decent road (any high-clearance
can use it) up Devil Canyon wash to
at a TH sign,
getting me conveniently within a mile and a quarter of Boo Hoff Peak. I
informally named it for the trail that starts at this trailhead and goes for
five or six miles through the hills to the southern end of La Quinta. I only
discovered the trail upon starting out from .
I knew my
peak was hidden behind a lower summit that is prominent from the trailhead, so
I was happy to find there was a trail going at least part way towards my
objective to make things easier. After a poorly-defined start where the trail
wanders up the main wash, a
points one to the trail exiting the wash
to begin the climb through the hills where it is then easy to follow. I
hiked along the trail for about a mile until it was skirting the lower summit
on the southwest side and within about half a mile of Boo Hoff Peak. Here, I
left the trail to head more directly ,
easy cross-country at
first, becoming steep for the final 1/5mi up the SE Slopes. I took just under
an hour to reach with overlooking
Coachella Valley, much like the previous day. I left
at the rocky summit before starting back
down. I took an all-cross-country route as an alternate and a more direct
route back to ,
but I doubt it saved any time over using the
trail. When I got back to the jeep I found another car parked there, its
occupants taking a leisurely stroll along the road they'd just driven. I drove
back out to 58th Ave before finding my way to La Quinta for the big hike of the
day.
Indio Mtn/Peak 2,100ft/Eisenhower Mtn
There is a stretch of rugged ridgeline more than six miles long separating
La Quinta to the east from Palm Desert/Deep Canyon/Hidden Valley to the west.
There are six summits along the ridge from the highpoint to the south at
Coytote BM stretching to La Quinta BM at the other end. I had done Coyote BM
some five years earlier so today's effort was intended to take in the other
five summits. I managed only to do three of them before growing weary and
quitting, done in by a combination of warm temperatures and God-awful amounts
of rock. All of the peaks around La Quinta are primarily granite, the terrain
covered in tons of rocks that come in all sizes. There's just no easy travel
in this area unless you're on the desert floor or one of the trails to the south
of La Quinta.
I parked in a suburban cul-de-sac on the west side of La Quinta with easy access
to ,
an asphalt bike/hike path atop the levy that protects
this side of La Quinta from flash floods. There was a convenient
that cross the levee near where I started, linking to an unsigned trail I found
on the opposite side. I followed it only a short distance to get around a bend
in a subsidiary ridge, then headed northwest and west up
to reach the main crest. The wash narrowed to ,
the combination of which for almost an hour. I eventually
climbed out of the gully to ascend to
, then a short distance north to find my way to
of Indio Mtn. It was a longish haul in warm weather, taking me
more than an hour and a half from the start to reach the summit, a distance of
about 2mi with 2,000ft of gain. I found no register here so left
before continuing on.
The looked to be more of the same bouldery terrain, saved
only by a bit of breeze blowing along the crest and the fact that most of the
elevation gain was done. Still, it was pretty , taking an
hour to reach each of the next two peaks, each separated by about
. For about 20min during this effort, a large
seemed to take interest in me,
following me along the ridge, flying overhead and making some interesting
sounds before finally deciding I was rather boring after all. It was 1:40p
by the time I reached the third summit, ,
where a partial cross
of black PVC pipe can be found. I had plenty of daylight but not enough will
to continue along
to the last two summits which looked to be more
of the same I'd been working through. I decided to cut my losses before I was
really starting to dislike the ridge, figuring I could do the last two
at some future date. The return is not as straightforward as the ascent because
the north side of La Quinta does not have the convenient Bear Creek Trail
access. Instead, there are private golf and tennis communities that own the
land right up to the edge of the BLM and state lands. I continued northeast
along the ridge to a low saddle where I then an unpleasant,
into the La Quinta Resort Mountain Course. I came out at
,
wondering how long it would take the course marshall to take note of me and
run me off. I waited for one party to play through before exiting, then found
my way onto the private roads of the .
This last hour
hiking along the roads of La Quinta were less fun, but at least I was done with
the boulders for the day. I waved to, and greeted neighbors I came across; they
didn't seem to mind me too much, though without sidewalks, it is obvious that
walking in the gated community is highly unusual. I was happy that no course
marshall or other security forces came by to pester me. Once out onto the more
public parts of La Quinta, sidewalks resumed and I found my way
,
once again using the Bear Creek Trail. I was done before 4p but felt like I'd
put in more than a full day. Temps were in the high 70s and it was just too
warm to be out hiking for this long. What happened to all that cold weather
from just a few days ago?
Continued...