Uncategorized – Page 8 – Living Wonderously

Southern California

Summer-like weather in mid-December is one feature of the desert in southern California that we don’t find in the deserts of northern New Mexico. It was that promise of warm temperatures that drew us to Indio, California, for a week of hiking and sightseeing. And on our hikes we enjoyed seeing other features that we don’t find in New Mexico’s deserts. For example, Joshua Trees, which aren’t trees at all, but are members of the Agave family.

The stalk in the foreground is a young Joshua tree before it branches.

And then there are the California Fan Palm Trees. So strange to be hiking in barren desert terrain and then come upon an oasis of palm trees.

Some other interesting features:

Gneiss rock formations with distinctive black and white bands are the oldest rocks in Joshua Tree Park.

Cactii don’t look their best in winter. Beavertail is a variety we usually don’t see.

And then there are beautiful views from hiking trails:

Look closely to see Lee on top of the hill in the distance.

Our last day in the area we temporarily left the desert and rode the Palm Springs Tram up towards Mount San Jacinto to do some hiking in the mountains.

Looking towards Palm Springs from top of tram.

Hiking a trail in Mt. San Jacinto State Park at the top of the tramway.

Manzano Peak

My question of the day is why did it take us so long to hike up Manzano Peak? I don’t mean that the hike itself took us a long time–3 hours for the 4 miles up and 2 hours to get back down. I’m just surprised that it wasn’t a hike that we thought of doing until recently. I think I had a vague idea that it was a hard place to reach, one that required overnight backpacking. But it’s actually easier to reach than many of the other day hikes that we do.

We have done a lot of hiking in the Manzano Mountains, usually this time of year when it’s getting too cold at the higher elevations. Manzano Peak, at 10,000 feet, is the highest point, so temperatures are milder than the other mountains around Albuquerque. It’s also not a populated area and most of the time, like today, we are the only people on the trail.

Last month we did a 6-mile hike on the Keyser Mill Run Trail that goes up to the Crest Trail and back down. After we got home and looked more closely at a map we realized that it was less than a mile along the Crest Trail to reach the peak. So today we knew what to expect on the steep climb to the Crest, since we had already done that part. Then we were pleasantly surprised at the relatively easy section to the peak. The biggest surprise was the awesome view from the summit, even on this cloudy day.