Hiking Coachella Valley Preserve

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Finally got out for a hike. We decided to go to the Coachella Valley Preserve. Got up nice and early, and then had to make a few stops on the way for coffee and advil. Actually a good combo! As we were driving to the preserve we saw what all the cool tourists were doing. I'm surprised to see the average age of cool at about 60!

We got to the visitor centre before it opened. We weren't the only ones there. A group of middle aged women were just ahead of us. So we selected to go the opposite direction. Without a map. On the way in there were signs that we might see a mountain lion or puma!!!! Too bad we weren't so lucky, and here is our wildlife sighting.

So it doesn't matter if it is a cooler day (the high today was about 85), it is hot when you are hiking in a desert. Very hot. Fortunately I had my new and very styling hat, and a coat or two of sunscreen. The hike turned out to be about 4 miles. We had brought water with us. And left it in the car. With our cell phones. Yeah, we are hikers! Didn't seem like that big of a deal the first 2 miles. The McCallum Grove trail was ok, sandy so it was hard to walk in spots, but there were two oasis (stands of palm trees that stink of sulfer) so you got a bit of shade. Then, since it was our first hike in a year, we decided to keep going to Moon Country. We were the only ones on that trail. Probably because it is a windy, rocky generally uninteresting trail. And you don't see the moon. The walk back along the wash was very nice. Overall it was a great 2 hours of sweating and climbing. Hiking on sand is hard. Actually at the end of the hike we both felt great. Then we drove back to our place to have a swim. Seemed like a really good plan until it came to standing up and getting out of the car. The legs were not happy! Needed a big nap in the afternoon to recuperate.

Spent part of the afternoon at the pool. At about 2:30pm my skin told me to come inside. My legs were on fire. They still are. I believe that the sun is now trapped inside my skin. Even with the SPF45 I'm red. I'm red everywhere! Tomorrow is a no-sun day. Ed, of course, is nice and brown. White skin doesn't like the sun. And as we were walking in El Paseo, the fancy shopping area, there were many examples. Once you have that old-woman sun damaged skin, you have it forever!

Now that we have been hiking once Ed decided that we needed to invest in hiking boots, since we obviously are now hikers. So we went to three shoe stores. Still don't have hikers.

On the way back from shopping we found a video rental store. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find video rentals? And they don't care where you are from to rent a video, as long as you have a visa. Works for us.

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Photos

Cool Crew
People who will not be getting a hummer.