A Winter Vacation in Desert Hot Springs

I have had a love affair with deserts since childhood. As a young child growing up in the Los Angeles area, we often camped in the desert at Joshua Tree National Park or Anza Borrego State Park. My later childhood was in the high desert of northern California, in Lassen County near the town of Janesville. Dad was a driller and I stayed with him in the deserts of Nevada and Death Valley; and as an adult I traveled to all the California deserts, as well as deserts in Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. As an Environmental Scientist I worked to conserve species in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, and when I'm an old person, I darn well hope to retire on my 5 acres of desert property. So after a very hard year of a lot of hard work and difficult problem solving, a winter vacation in the Southern California desert sounded like a winning idea. My uncle had offered to take us to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and to the mineral pools in Desert Hot Springs. Although my parents invited themselves along, my uncle dropped out, and we were all sick with cold and flu viruses, the trip was still on.

When I was young I hiked cross country at night in the remote desert beneath the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range near Doyle, California, to a natural hot spring; however, my older and crankier body decided a resort with a bunch of mineral pools would suit me just fine. Our bodies ached from a whole year of moving four people out of a house and hosting parties and holidays, so on the day after Christmas we headed down south. We visited relatives in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Westchester. But with family politics, tensions were high, and getting out of the big cities and into the open desert was just what I needed.

We stopped for a hearty home-cooked meal of ribs and chicken at Gramma's Country Kitchen in the city of Banning. Towards evening we arrived in Desert Hot Springs and checked into the Aqua Soleil Hotel and Mineral Water Spa, which I had found on Hotels.com and reserved for  3 nights. On the first night we hit the mineral hot tub, and the hotel broadcasted on a large screen in the pool area the movie "Maze Runner" for our entertainment while soaking. Desert Hot Springs is conveniently located north of Palm Springs and the Santa Rosa-San Jacinto mountain range, just a tad southwest of Joshua Tree National Park, and just a few miles east of the San Bernardino National Forest. So for a person who likes to hike the desert mountains by day and then come in for the night for a nice soak in the hot tub, Desert Hot Springs is the right place to stay. My only complaint was lack of a microwave in the rooms; but my clever parents finagled one from maintenance staff.

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

On the first day we took the aerial tram; it was so close, we bought our tickets, went back to the hotel for lunch, and then returned to take the discounted evening ride at 4:00. The tram takes a packed load of people from the valley station in Mt. San Jacinto State Park, over 6,000 feet up the steep northeastern facing slope to the top of San Jacinto peak in 10 minutes (mountain station). The view of the rocky cliffs and canyons leading up to the summit is one that I'd only otherwise see in a helicopter; that is once I pushed my way through a wall of people and claimed a spot by the window.

While slightly disappointed with the sheer crowdedness of the tram ride, the destination on the top of Mt. San Jacinto was another story. It was winter at 8500 feet in elevation, so temperatures were down in the 30s, and a very strong wind greeted us as we stepped outside the station. But wrapped up in layers of field biologist clothing, I was quite comfortable and able to enjoy the spectacular view from the viewing deck. From the overlook we watched the sun set over San Gorgonio Mountain, Palm Springs, and the western edge of Joshua Tree National Park.

Shadow of Mt. San Jacinto, looking northeast towards Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park

Looking north towards San Gorgonio Mountain, San Bernardino range

Mountain station lookout

There is a restaurant and bar on top of this mountain, and most people take the tram up to have dinner and a drink and then go back down. Not me. I took the path down to the 0.75-mile Long Valley Discovery Trail and hiked the loop through the ice and snow of the meadow. Here is where I found my peace, and all my moodiness from the hard year and the earlier parts of the trip faded away. Aside from a slip on the ice that landed me flat on my ass, the trail was flat and mellow and the scenery was beautiful.

Long Valley

Long Valley Discovery Trail

I hiked back up to the mountain station just as it was getting dark, and vied for my position by the window on the tram ride back down. We met my parents for dinner in Desert Hot Springs at Casa Blanca, a good Mexican food restaurant recommended by hotel staff, and went for another late evening soak in the tubs.

Joshua Tree National Park

Our next day's outing, after half a day of being lazy by the pools, was to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a cold late afternoon in the high desert mountains and I forgot to bring warm pants, so I had to buy some sweats at WalMart in Yucca Valley. Yucca Valley is one of the gateways into the western edge of the park, as are the towns of Joshua Tree and 29 Palms. We took Highway 62 through the Morongo Valley, and as we started driving through and alongside the park, the Joshua Trees appeared and the snow started coming down. The Joshua Tree is endemic to this part of the California desert and grows nowhere else in the world. They are ancient trees with a very slow growth rate, and are declining to the point of only occurring in protected areas such as parks and conservation lands. Yet they are very important to wildlife and the ecosystem and have high aesthetic beauty that inspires artists and scientists alike. I loved these trees as a child--they appeared so sweet and fuzzy and seemed to have a tremendous amount of character. To see these trees disappear would rip a piece out of my heart. But like mom said as we passed through Yucca Valley, "How many Joshua Trees were taken out to build this WalMart?" And with climate change and other factors, the fate of this unique species is uncertain.

The beautiful Joshua Tree - icon of the southern California desert

I had been to Joshua Tree National Park many times from childhood through adulthood, but going back into it was not at all a feeling of "been there, done that." It's like entering a different world, another planet on which the pristine beauty of the desert is untouched by human destruction. The placement of granite boulders, shaped and eroded by the wind, weather, and movement of the earth, creates amazing formations that appear to have been carefully sculpted by nature's most talented artist. Some of the formations seem to defy the laws of gravity--like how on earth does that rock stay balanced in the position it is in?

There is only one paved road in the northwestern corner of the park and that's Park Boulevard. We took Park Boulevard from the west entrance out of Joshua Tree village to Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley is a campground and picnic area with a one-mile loop trail. I dragged my sick husband and 82-year old mother with her bad back on the hike, which involved climbing rock steps and scrambling over boulders--easy for an experienced hiker but a phenomenal accomplishment for mom. It helped that we stopped every 10 seconds to photograph the amazing geological rock formations and desert flora. Again I felt a rush of joy in my element of nature, the peace broken only by some very loud rock climbers. It was almost dark when we were back at the parking lot, greeted by a hungry lone coyote, no doubt looking for people food.

Hidden Valley trail

One of many rock caves that could be explored

This isn't the modern art museum. This is nature.

Hidden Valley campground

With exotic grasses and Joshua trees are Mohave yucca (Yucca schidigera) (foreground) and Parry nolina (Nolina parryii)

A popular rock climbing spot

Dollarjoint prickly pear (Opuntia chlorotica)

Though it was dark, we continued on Park Boulevard and left the park at the north entrance in 29 Palms. The snow was coming down and we wound up having dinner at Applebee's in Yucca Valley. One last soak in the tubs, and that concluded our vacation in Desert Hot Springs. The next day, on New Year's Eve, we traveled back to Santa Monica to welcome in 2015 at my cousin's party. And thus concludes the travel blogs for 2014. Stay tuned for another set of adventures in 2015.

Tidal Restoration at Eden Landing

Shifting gears a bit, I'm going to blog a business trip to a really neat ecological reserve in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Eden Landing Ecological Reserve is in the south bay in the city of Hayward, the first exit off Highway 92 west before the approach to the San Mateo Bridge, in Alameda County, California. It contains approximately 4600 acres of salt ponds, managed marshes, restored salt marshes, and transitional areas between marsh and uplands, to support a wide variety of plants and animals, including waterfowl, shorebirds, marsh birds, fish, and mammals. And for people, it provides recreation such as hiking, cycling, birding, and hunting. 

The land is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and is undergoing restoration from salt flats to a functioning tidal marsh ecosystem. Once restored, it will support Threatened and Endangered species such as the Salt-marsh Harvest Mouse, California Ridgway's Rail (formerly California Clapper Rail), California Black Rail, and Western Snowy Plover. Save the Bay, a non-profit organization working to protect and restore natural ecosystems of the San Francisco Bay, brings volunteers to plant the native vegetation after CDFW does its construction work to allow natural tidal flow from bay waters to return to the area and create marshland.

My job as an environmental scientist is to work on the conservation side of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (no stop-the-tunnels comments please; I only work on the conservation of terrestrial species!). A major part of this plan is tidal marsh restoration, so we were able to leave our cubes for a day to take a tour at Eden Landing and see how it was done. The area was formerly used for the solar process of salt production by Cargill. When CDFW purchased the land, they started the process of restoring the industrial salt ponds into natural wetlands. On a nice sunny day in October,  I joined a group of my colleagues on a guided tour of Eden Landing with the Reserve Manager to see what the unrestored and restored lands look like, to see restoration in action, and to ask a million questions.

We learned about the process of breaching levees to bring the water in, contouring the land, and construction of large horizontal levees that provide refugia for little birds and mammals during the high tides. We saw how ponds were managed for just the right amount of flow, depth, and salinity needed for the species to live and thrive here. We saw the amazing before and after of restoration activities and heard the story of how the return of tidal waters brought in leopard sharks, to the amazement of visitors fishing in the area.

Before: bare salt ponds from the salt production industry use

After: a thriving vegetated ecosystem

A tidal haven for leopard sharks

We stopped and had our lunch at a spot with 4 benches--each with a beautiful clear day view of the Bay Area's famous mountain peaks: Mount Hamilton to the south, Mount Diablo to the northeast, and Mount Tamalpais to the north. It was quite a spot for a picnic. Eden Landing isn't just for scientists to visit. It is open to the public and a perfect day of open space for Bay Area locals that need to prioritize getting out in nature. In fact back in the 90s when I was a Silicon Valley nerd working in the computer industry and heavily into photography, I remember visiting Eden Landing for the beautiful photographic opportunity it offered.

And for those who really want to get involved in the process, I am certain Save the Bay would be happy to sign up more volunteers. I'd be out there planting vegetation if I lived in the area.

Pacific Northwest Random Ride 2014 - Oregon

Our first stop on the Oregon coast was Crissey Field State Recreation Area. This 40-acre state park has beach, forest, and wetlands that stretch from the California border on the south to the Winchuck River on the north. The beach trail took us to a wide, expansive sandy beach, with a scattering of oddly-shaped driftwood logs, where the Winchuck flows into the Pacific Ocean. We took up a comfortable seat of sand with a log to rest our backs and watched a group of brown pelicans forage for fish on the surf. Watching a pelican go fishing is amazing. The pelican flies above the surf, generally in a circular motion, searching for schools of fish. Once the fish are spotted, the pelican generally dives into the water head first to grab its fish. Here, however, with plentiful bounty near the surface of the shallow water near the shore, the pelicans gracefully landed on the surface of the water, and hunted from their sitting position by submerging themselves and seizing their prey, then reemerging with the flopping fish inside the expanded throat pouch. The brown pelican is truly an elegant and beautiful bird. It was removed from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species in 2009 because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined it had been recovered. It was considered one of the Endangered Species Act's success stories; however, it still faces serious threats.   Climate change, for example, could deplete the abundance of herring and anchovies it requires, and of course human disturbance and coastal development on breeding grounds could continue to threaten the species, so it needs careful monitoring, respect, and consideration.

But pelicans weren't the only critters we encountered; check out this very handsome longhorn beetle: 

Banded alder borer beetle (Rosalia funebris)

Nature's art: the dog and the seal in the driftwood

We could have stayed here all day, but hungry stomachs edged us to move on. I quickly took the trail to the river, just to do it, before leaving the park.

The reason for the beeline to Oregon was everyone's desire to get seafood at one of our favorite little lunch stops in Brookings, The Hungry Clam. A friend recommended it to me when I lived in Humboldt County and ever since, we make it a point to enjoy delicious baskets of lightly fried fish, calamari, clams, and oysters whenever we are in the area. The restaurant sits on the Port of Brookings Harbor, where we could walk along the marina and get ice cream. It's also a good place to view the Port of Brookings Lighthouse.

With full stomachs, we resumed our random ride from the harbor, which sent us up the narrow, scenic, and windy South Bank Chetco River Road along the Chetco River. The road follows the river but then winds up doubling back in loops and dead ends. We ultimately had to turn around and return to Brookings and continue our original trajectory north on Highway 101.

Just a few miles north of Brookings lies the very long and narrow Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. This state park spans 12 miles of rugged Oregon coastline of forest, rock, and beaches between Highway 101 and the ocean. There are a few entrances into the park and we grabbed the first one we could. We turned into the Lone Ranch Beach and picnic area and walked down to the beach.

More of nature's driftwood art sat perched along the rocky shoreline. Pelagic islands of rock shot into the sky like wizard hats, and smaller boulders closer to the shore caught the breaking waves and turned them into an incredible display of white ocean foam. It's a rush to sit on one of the rocks, with feet in the sea water; however, some leachy little sea creature bit a hole in my toe and so I retreated to the shore to videotape a group of ravens who happily made this beach their home.

Driftwood man walking on the beach. Is that art by nature or by a human?

View of Pacific Ocean from Lone Ranch Beach

After such a long, hard day on the beaches (yeah, right), it was starting to get to the point of having to figure out where we were going to have dinner and stay for the night. I had to make an 11-hour trek the next day back to Sacramento, so one option was to turn back and start towards home. What fun is that? Instead we continued north to Gold Beach and spent our last night of the trip in the lap of luxury at the Gold Beach Inn. We rented the cabin for five, made dinner, had a drink, and soaked in the outdoor hot tub overlooking the sunset over the beach. 

Gold Beach Inn cabin. This isn't an ad, but it's a cool place to stay.

The adventure wasn't quite over yet. The next morning we were up bright and early to make the long journey back home in time to get up for work the following day. Mom had the brilliant idea of taking a "short cut" across the Siskiyou Range from Gold River to Grants Pass. The only problem was the "short cut" involved navigating very slow, small Forest Service roads, including taking a wrong turn and having to backtrack to find our way over the mountain. I believe we followed forest road #33 along the Rogue River, made the wrong turn around Agness, but then followed the river back on track on road 375, which made a bit of a detour to the north, finally winding up on Galice Road and  the town of Merlin hours later. Too bad I was too stressed out about getting back in time to thoroughly enjoy the incredible scenery of the Rogue River wilderness. I'm hoping to revisit that route in 2015, but the lesson learned is if you're in a fantastic place you've never been, don't stress about getting where you need to go. Turned out I needed to buy a headlight in Grants Pass, and we had a nice lunch at the Sunflower Thai Restaurant. Then we sailed down Interstate 5 towards home, and in spite of the stressing, I was still home at a reasonable hour. 

So stay tuned for Random Ride 2015, which will begin at Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Oregon.

Pacific Northwest Random Ride 2014 - California

Every 4th of July weekend the random ride continues from where it last left off. The 2013 random ride ended at the Big Tree in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We traveled west over the Trinities on Highway 299, met a friend on Berry Hill Summit, stayed at a nice double room for 5 at the Town House Motel in downtown Eureka (for a reasonable price), and on the morning of July 3, had a lovely breakfast with friends at the Cafe Waterfront.  Then we hit the road on Highway 101 traveling north.

Berry Hill Summit, Trinity Alps

Fern Canyon

First stop was Fern Canyon; maybe I had been there at least 3 times, but every time is like a first time. Helped 81-year-old mom navigate the trail that followed the creek on the canyon floor with gigantic log crossings, and spectacular walls adorned with ancient ferns, mosses, and other lush flora, on top of which lies a forest of very tall redwoods.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

After losing the uncle on the beach and finally getting him back to the car, we continued north to our destination in the Redwoods National and State Parks: a small but secluded campsite at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park campground. After an evening of hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, hot cocoa and schnapps, we spent the morning on the Cathedral Trees trail before officially starting the random ride at the Big Tree loop trail.

Cathedral Trees trail

The Big Tree. 

Then continued north and hiked the Ah-Pah trail--an interpretive showcase of how restoration can turn a busy, denuded logging truck road back into a beautiful forest.

Base of a redwood on the narrow path that was once a logging road. Can you see the monkey face in the root?

Lagoon Creek and Yurok Loop Trail

We spent the next 2 nights in Klamath, camping at the Redwoods RV Park (formerly Kat's RV), a quiet, family-owned, and uncrowded campground on the Klamath River. From this base, we drove around the Klamath and Crescent City areas--the highlight being the gorgeous Yurok Loop trail at the Lagoon Creek beach and picnic area, just about 4 miles south of Crescent City. I wrote in my diary, "Man, what a magical place." The old mill pond donned with floating aquatic vegetation (aka lily pads) was a beautiful site to see even from the highway.

The Yurok Loop trail was even better. It took us across Lagoon Creek, past the beach, and through a Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir forest with a thick understory to an overlook of the Pacific Ocean and False Klamath Rock--a protected seabird rookery blanketed with thousands of noisy birds flying to and fro. I am guessing these are common murres, but pigeon guillemots and cormorants also nest on the rock.

Top of False Klamath Rock rookery. That's a lot of murres!

I spent the rest of the loop trail taking photos of the flowers. I didn't have a Jepson manual and I'm not great at identifying flowers, but here are some best guesses:

Angelica species (Henderson's or Lyall's) with daisies and thistle; though I also considered it could be cow parsnip, being that it grows with a bunch of non-natives.

Common white yarrow

Some kind of berry

Then took the side trail to the Lagoon Creek beach, where the drift wood gets trapped and piles up  and where I could sit and stare at the seabird rookery from a different vantage point.

False Klamath Rock from the Lagoon Creek beach

Calystegia soldanella (beach morning glory)

Towola Dunes and Lake Earle Wildlife Area

Our next adventure was to find and visit the Towola Dunes State Park, just a couple miles north of Crescent City off of Old Mill Road. We got directions from a corner store clerk and were confused, stopping at an unmarked gate in an agricultural area. The gate had an opening to a dirt road and a very small sign gave us the realization we had arrived. With only two inconspicuous entrances, the park is an expansive 4500 acres of coast land that extends from just north of Crescent City to where the Smith River enters Pelican Bay. Three of us--uncle, brother, and I--were game to hike the dirt road into the park. The park was once home to the Towola tribe of native Americans, and there is a cultural site where the road meets a horse trail that shoots off into the dunes. We took the trail which led us through several ecotones--transitions between different ecosystems from a sitka spruce dominated dune forest, to coastal dune scrub, to northern foredune--grassy dune dominated by sand dune blue grass, to the beach. All the natural communities here had one interesting phenomenon in common: the vegetation grew in the sand.

Dune forest with Sitka spruce

Coastal dune scrub

Northern foredunes

Beach!

Ecotones

It was a very long hike to the ocean and back, tiring but exhilarating, and we soon left the park to retract our steps and continue our random ride. Now for a side-bar of animal rights advocacy. On our way out of the dunes on Old Mill Road, we passed a huge ranch with odd-looking round things--didn't know what they were until we saw calves' heads poking out, necks stiffly trapped between a gate in the hole of their crates. It was a veal farm where veal crates hold calves in one standing position, not allowing them to move, run, skip, forage, or be a living, sentient being. Back in my animal advocacy days, we pushed to ban such agricultural practices and for consumers to turn their backs on veal and any restaurant or store that sold it.  I believe the ranch we saw belongs to the Alexandre Family. Ironic that their website says they are organic "EcoDairy" farmers that care about the welfare of their animals. On January 1, 2015, the voter-approved ban on veal crates in California should have gone into effect. Any activists reading this blog, please take heed and check up on our Alexandre Family "eco friends."

Now back to our regular scheduled programming. The random ride, being random, doubled us back south towards Crescent City on Lake Earle Drive. But we had one additional outing before calling it a night. The Lake Earle Wildlife Area, managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, surrounds Lake Earl and and Lake Talawa, and is adjacent to disjunct sections of Towola Dunes State Park.

Lake Earle Wildlife Area with a view of the dunes

We spent the night in Crescent City and had a nice seafood dinner and blueberry cobbler at the Apple Peddler. Then headed north on our random ride on Kings Valley Road, stopping at Blueberry Hill Farms to buy fresh organic blueberries and delicious blueberry jam. Back on 101 North, we headed towards the Oregon border. To be continued...