West of the Martinez Landslide

Went out to do a bit more exploring in the area of the Martinez Landslide.  This area is very interesting to me for several reasons.  One, it's fairly close to my house, only about a fifteen minute drive.  Two, it's very seldom visited.  While other hiking areas in the desert are like a parade of people, I never see anyone else in this area and seldom even see human footprints.  And lastly, there's an incredible potential for discovery in this area.  The Torrez Martinez Indian Reservation is near here and the Desert Cahuilla have lived in this area for hundreds of years.  I have already found four trails out here and there are sure to be more.  My time is limited to a couple hours so I won't be able to get far but hopefully I'll be able to find something interesting.

I start hiking southeast from my parking area on an old Indian trail that I discovered last year.

It's obvious that people have been here before but this is not the type of discovery that I'm hoping to make.

Ocotillo are blooming and beautiful.

I'm heading up toward this canyon which is west of the Martinez Landslide.

To drop into the canyon which I hope to go up is steep, loose and rocky. I have to be extremely cautious going down this stuff.

I successful negotiate the hillside of death and make it into the canyon.  It's pretty easy going now.

Unlike any of the canyons in more accessible areas this canyon is devoid of any footprints.

There's a section of rock that is calcified so that indicates that water frequently comes through here although none is flowing today.

This is very exciting to me!  It's a mesquite.  That means two things.  One, there's water beneath the surface because mesquite needs a steady supply of water to survive.  Two, it means the Indians probably came here.  Mesquite was a major food source for the Cahuilla.

The canyon is quite chocked with brush and I find a little trail that leaves the canyon and skirts this mess of skin flaying vegetation.

I also find what looks like a sleeping circle on the side of the canyon.  In  a very short time I've discovered  some interesting things that make me want to return when I have more time.

Just as I'm about to turn back I find something else interesting, a date palm.  I had hoped to find a native Palm Oasis but this is a positive sign.  It means there's enough water in the canyon to support a palm and there may be native palms further up the canyon.

On my hike back I see some pottery sherds along the trail.

Another positive sign that I'm in a place with a wealth of fascinating finds yet to be discovered.

Warming Up

It's been kinda cool in the desert the past week--with the high temperature hovering in the 60s--so I decided to take a little hike to warm up.  I'll also need to warm up my hiking skills since they've been underutilized most of this year.  I grabbed my son, Nikolas, and Johnnie, one of the neighbor kids, and headed south of La Quinta to go explore a canyon I'd seen on a previous hike.

From the parking area we have to hike about 3/4 of a mile to get to the canyon.  We stay on the side of the canyon until the walls get too steep and then we drop into the sandy canyon bottom.

This place is a boy paradise.  It's full of big rocks to clamber over and places to explore and hide.  There are also no footprints so nobody comes up here.

There is no water in the canyon right now but I keep my eye out for certain plants that would indicate the presence of subsurface water.  The only one I see is this single Palm Tree that has seen its better days.

Nikolas climbs to the top of a dry fall on the side of the canyon to see if there's any water up there but no luck.  It's completely dry.

We get lucky just a little further up the canyon and find some water.  It isn't much but in the desert this could be the difference between life and death.

We come to this dry fall further up the canyon and this makes a good turnaround spot.  I don't feel comfortable having the boys going up this.  Of course, they probably feel the same about me.

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On the way out I take a little detour and discover an old Indian trail that leads to the canyon from the south.  This is a very good sign that more water and perhaps some mesquite bushes may be further up the canyon because the Indians would not have come to this canyon for any other reason.  

The trail is very well defined so in its day it definitely saw some traffic.  I cannot wait to come back and explore a bit further.  Who knows what I might find?

On the way back to the Jeep we stop off to examine this VW bus that someone left out here.  Can you fix it, Dad?  Nik wonders.

Johnnie decides to take it for a spin.

Some boulder hopping, a previously unknown Indian Trail, and an old beat up car are the prescription for the perfect boy adventure.  The only thing missing is a treasure map.  We'll have to save that for next time.  But that's OK; I'm just warming up.