Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Randall Henderson Trail

Not much happening in the weather department… seems we are stuck on cool and cloudy weather as we had a bunch today… don’t think it got much over 50ish.

We decided to take a ride out to Hwy. 74 that runs up to Idyllwilde, and even on to San Diego, and stop at the visitor’s centre just outside the Town of Rancho Mirage. 

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They are big on the Long Horned Sheep around here…  (we still have yet to run across a real one!)

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They had a good movie going inside, that explained how the Saltan Sea was created… but that is for another blog one day…

We decided to take a 2 1/2 mile loop trail that is only about 10 years old, and takes you through the low desert area.  It is the foothills area, of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains.

Here I am setting up my GPS to record the track for today.  We climbed about 425 feet only in elevation. 

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There were lots of holes and tunnels in the walls of the low canyon, which make for nice homes for the small desert animals/lizards/birds etc…

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Judy was in fine form heading up the ridge… lots of different cactus plants in this area…

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The trail was all marked out, and you cold read the trail guide they gave you for information…

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This beaver tail cactus was growing right out of the side of the rocks…

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A lot of the rock you see today is granite… and you guessed it, it is hard as a _ _ _ _

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You can see the trails all through this valley… it turned out to be a good day for a hike. 

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The people managing this National Monument, had 3/4 of the trails closed to the public, as this is the time of the year that the Long Horn Sheep “lamb”, or have their babies…  They are an endangered specie, so lots of care is taken to ensure the survival of the new lambs…   The trails will be closed until next October!

No matter how hard I looked, I could not find anything that moved today… sigh…

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You cannot see it, but these Octillio Cactus plants were blooming from all the recent rain.

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We were cool by the end of the afternoon, so there is nothing better than a nice mineral hot spring to warm you up, so that is where we headed when we got back to the Resort.

Till tomorrow…

4 comments:

  1. This was an enjoyable post to read, thanks for the hike.

    John
    relaxedrush.blogspot.com

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  2. thanks for the hike..now it is time for work!!

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  3. Sounds like a great day! It is wonderful to hear that they do close trails for birthing times.

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  4. Happy New Year....back in Apache Junction.....Frank rode his new bike over to the house on New Years....go figure....it was raining in Muskoka....where's the snow.
    I happened on a blog through one of your follower's blog that I thought you might enjoy....it turned out that I had had a number of Rv forum discussions with this person under the name heritage 2006....back in the summer...like you and Judy she has sold her stick home and purchased a motorhome and trailer to haul her bike.....her journey began 2 months ago from NewFoundland...thought you might enjoy her blog which is....Sassy's-Back-On 'Da Road

    Bob

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