Volcanic Tablelands, Near Bishop, CA

Hiked May 17, 2026. Twentieth hike of the year. This was supposed to be part of a dark sky weekend, where I was going to try an extended period of astrophotography. However, for various reasons, I ended up not even setting up the telescopes.

I arrived at the Ferguson Group campground about 6pm on May 16. But my group had already vacated the site, due to anticipated poorer seeing conditions. And, for various reasons, I wasn't up for setting up and camping there by myself, so I drove back down to 395, and booked a reservation once I had a signal. Once i was checking my messages, I also discovered that I had been at the right place on the right date, but the friends had already vacated.

So I checked in, moved some stuff up, and microwaved my dinner. Took an evening walk around the motel, to reach my step count. That's the two shots at the end of this post, so they would have been May 16, 2026, but not an actual hike. Pretty, though.

After I got back, I did some Internet searching to decide on my morning hike. The plan was going to be for a short hike among the Volcanic Tablelands in the morning, then resting up, and taking a longer hike into the eastern Sierra in the afternoon, once the light turned golden.

On Sunday morning, May 17, 2026, I got a relatively early start, leaving the motel before 7am, and got back, just before 10am. The goal was "skyrock" and then what ever else I could find.

I had read that my intended trailhead was some distance past "Happy Boulders," off Chalk Cliff Road. Turns out my gps actually knew how to get to "Happy Boulders," so I followed those directions, then just continued past, looking for a parking area with a trail heading up into the Volcanic Tablelands.

A good part of the road out here is dirt, and somewhat washboarded. Still easily managed by a typical sedan, if you find the right speed to go and the right lines for the washboarding.

Turns out there's a portapotty at "Happy Boulders," by the way, so you may have one restroom option between Bishop and the Volcanic Tablelands. I didn't notice any actual signage calling this place, "Happy Boulders," though, so you'll just have to know it, when you see it.

I think it's likely that you could hike up the trail near Happy Boulders, then just wandered to the west. But because I wasn't sure, I just continued on Chalk Cliff Road until I found the next small parking area, with a distinct trail head up the cliff.

The trail up is short and steep, but easier coming down than I expected it would be. Great views over the winding waterways south of the Volcanic Tablelands on the way up, as well as views of the Sierra, to your west, and the White Mountains, to your east.

Once at the top of the highlands, there's a line of boulders to your right. As I undestood it, skyrock would be visible from somewhere at the top of that mesa, looking downward, so I intended to find a way up to the top of those boulders, and keep peeking back over to the west, looking for Skyrock.

The strategy proved sufficient. After checking between various rocks, I finally did find the skyrock petroglyph, pictured at the top. I continued poking around these rocks. Just east of the boulders, by the way, maybe 1/8 of a mile from the southern cliff, was a jeep or atv trail, with a turnaround area. The trail came from the north. Just before the turnout area was a small wide area for parking or turning around. The Skyrock was not too far from that area.

Across the jeep trail, and across the arroyo, was another set of boulders. A relatively distinct use trail lead across the arroyo, to where I could see some ambiguous markings on those rocks -- maybe indigenous, maybe not.

Near those ambiguous markings was another rock face, with what looks like bullet markings all over. Thirteen Moons was right near that.

So I'm not providing gps coordinates, but this should get you close enough to find the petroglyphs. It's actually more fun, this way, when you "discover" them only with a little bit of effort on your part.

In retrospect, I learned that you'd either want to get here shortly after sunrise, or in the early afternoon, to put both sets of petroglyphs either fully in sun or fully in shadow.

With lots of wandering and crisscrossing, I made a bit over three miles of walking for the morning, so enough to qualify as a formal "hike."

Big Morongo Canyon Preserve

Posting out of order. I hiked this over two months ago, March 14, 2026. Twelfth hike for the year.

Only been here once before, and it was a long time ago. Not sure how I managed never to come back, but I hadn't, until this March.

This trip was a spring trip, with quite a bit of flowers in bloom, even away from the watery bottom of the seep in Big Morongo Canyon.

The The area has several defined trails. One heads down the main canyon. One runs along the east side of the preserve. One runs to the west. Numerous trails criss-cross the central, wetter area of the preserve. I wandered somewhat aimlessly, but not very far down the canyon, as I didn't have time to do that.

The spring bloom was still going strong, with a wide variety of flowers along the paths: Desert mallow in the wash, brittlebush on the hills, a patch of Mojave aster near an overlook, chia, yucca, and a very few larkspur and lupine.

I zigged zagged around enough to hit my three mile minimum, plus a little bit.

This would have been a Saturday afternoon, a stop on the way towards Yucca Valley/Twentynine Palms, and a night of astronomy outreach at Sky's the Limit. I was still on a decent roll, as far as hiking, getting out once or twice a week. It's been slower, recently, but two hikes this last weekend: Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, for Hike #20, on May 16, and Red Rock Canyon State Park, near Cantil/Ridgecrest for Hike #21.

That was supposed to be surrounding a nice astrophotography outing, but that fizzled out for me. Only managed two short hikes, so I think that means I have, I think, three hikes to blog.

Big Morongo Preserve has a webpage on the San Bernardino County website. Apparently, it's owned by the County, as part of Big Morongo Regional Park, but there's also a non-profit partner that shares in management.

Free entry. No pets. No smoking. No collection of plants or animals. Open 7:30am to sunset.

And, of course, it can get *really* hot in the summer, so it's more of a three-season park, although it does remain open year round, and an early or late hike in summer would still be comfortable. Trails are a mixture of regular dirt and boardwalks, because the trails crisscross a seap, where water bubbles up due to the San Andreas Fault. That makes this a literal oasis in the desert, but even an oasis can be hot in the summer.

If you do hike in the summer, wear proper sun protection, bring liquids, and carefully monitor your comfort, especially if you're with kids. They overheat quicker and don't always signal you before they *really* overheat, so, can not stress this enough, if you go in the summer, take it easy, and don't over do it!

Mount Hollywood Trail, After Dark

Hiked May 3, 2026. This would be Hike #19 for the year. I haven't blogged Hike #18, which was Warren Peak, two weeks ago. Apparently, I still need to blog Hike #12, Big Monorogo Canyon Preserve, as well.

I've hiked this innumerable times, but it's been a few years since I've hiked it at night, when I can get the nice "Griffith Observatory in Front of the DTLA Skyline" shot. In this case, I got to the Observatory early, worked a bit, then headed up to Mount Hollywood. Once there, I headed back down, stopping near the big bend in the road that heads up the south side of Mount Hollywood, and waited for dark.

Two second exposure, f/11, ISO 1000, then cropped somewhat to produce a zoomed in image. My lens was a Nikon 24-120mm zoom, which isn't quite enough for what I wanted to do, here, so I had to crop.

The flowers were, in order, sacred datura, sticky monkey flower, and thistle (both blooming and spent). The sticky monkey flower was pretty common, but not right next to the trail. Only a few plants were well-placed for photography.

There were other flowers, but it's well past peak for wildflowers in this area, although the cooler temperatures this week have helped.

As previously noted, it's about a three mile hike from the Charlie Turner trailhead (far northern end of the lot in front of Griffith Observatory) to the summit of Mount Hollywood. If I was more motivated, I had time for a longer walk, and considered going to the Hollywood sign. But I forgot to bring my prescription medication, which was due to be taken around 8:30pm. I wasn't sure how long I'd need for the longer hike, so figured I'd stay close, so I could get back home by around 9pm, not too late, at least in my mind.

It was a little chilly by the end, but not too cold. Good way to get some extra steps, and I do enjoy time out on the trail, when ever I can manage it.