Desert Hike

Ebe, Joan & Barb at Whitewater, in Palm Springs

Had the opportunity to visit some friends who own a GREAT vacation rental in Palm Springs - Barb & Joan live in the Bay Area, but periodically have an open week or so at their vacation rental, so if they are in the general So Cal area, I try to make my way over to see them.

The only day that worked was Thursday, so it was a vacation day for Ebe, a working remote day for me and a sad day for David and Holly, who could not go due to work and school.

We really made the most of the 22 hours that we were there, including a hike on part of the Pacific Trail called Whitewater. It was a beautiful day and spending some time on this portion of the Pacific Trail made me think - even if just for a moment - that I would enjoy the adventure of hiking this iconic trail north as far as it might go.

We did some reading up on the path to take for our 4 mile round trip jaunt.  Elizabeth read it out loud to us so that everyone would have a solid sense of where we were going and how.  We set out along the path and within , oh, maybe 1/4 mile...we had gone off the suggested path and never got things back on track quite the same again.

We weren't lost, we just weren't finding the trail markings or paths that we thought we would, so we walked through a lot of nice terrain without ever getting to the fabled red dome that we intended.  We actually spent a nice bit of time standing on a little island (it was an area between a fork in the river/stream that was flowing), munching on some snacks that we brought.  We had a good chuckle over some other hikers who were following us...hope they enjoyed their time in and around the water!

We probably only hiked about 2 miles total, but it was still a lot of fun and definitely on the list to go back and do again.  As far as the whole Pacific Trail is concerned, if I ever seriously consider doing that, I will be sure to hire someone to take me through it, as there is no way I should ever consider trusting my own orienteering instincts!