Feb 27, 2019
|
Etymology |
Story | Photos / Slideshow | Maps: 1 2 | GPX | Profiles: 1 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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.
I parked in a suburban cul-de-sac on the west side of La Quinta with easy access to the Bear Creek Trail, an asphalt bike/hike path atop the levy that protects this side of La Quinta from flash floods. There was a convenient set of stairs 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 a wash system to reach the main crest. The wash narrowed to a rock-chocked gully, the combination of which I followed for almost an hour. I eventually climbed out of the gully to ascend a subsidiary ridge to the crest, then a short distance north to find my way to the top 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 a new one before continuing on.
The route ahead 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 slow going, taking an hour to reach each of the next two peaks, each separated by about a mile of scrambling. For about 20min during this effort, a large black raven 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, Eisenhower Mtn, where a partial cross of black PVC pipe can be found. I had plenty of daylight but not enough will to continue along the ridge 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 descended an unpleasant, rocky gully into the La Quinta Resort Mountain Course. I came out at one of the tees, 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 La Quinta Resort & Club. 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 back to the start, 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...
For more information see these SummitPost pages: Indio Mountain
This page last updated: Mon Mar 11 09:27:30 2019
For corrections or comments, please send feedback to: snwbord@hotmail.com