I've hiked this canyon before, and once, during active rain, when the water was flowing even higher than on this day.
Still, it was great hiking weather, a bit cool, but not cold, and, as mentioned, the water was running strong. With continued rain, I expect at least a decent flow on into April. Unlikiely I'll make this particular hike, again, but I wasn't able to visit Lost Canyon falls this trip, so likely I'll want to hit that by the end of the month. Maybe also Oak Creek, another short hike to a small falls.
On a somewhat related note, my America the Beautiful pass expires this month, and I always like getting in as many hikes as possible before it does. Yes, I'll buy a new one later in the year. But, who knows? Might be able to put that off into May, if I manage to schedule only not-federal fee area hikes in April.
Of course, because the recent rains have been so persistent, I wasn't the only one who had this idea of visiting Red Rock's waterfalls. The preferred parking area for Ice Box Canyon was full when I drove by that afternoon, so I had to continue on the one-way loop. But, no problem, I figured. I got the idea that I could just start from the Pine Canyon trailhead, then take "Dale's Trail" up to intersect with the Ice Box Canyon trail.
On the plus side, yes, this will work. On the minus side, I forgot how up-and-down Dale's trail is. Although probably less than two miles from Pine Creek trailhead to the junction with Ice Box, it took me about ninety minutes to get there. And since I started late (entered just before 3pm), I knew I was going to be pressing things to try to get to the waterfall, then back to my car, and out the gate by 7pm (when, in March, the loop road officially closes).
I mean, Dale's trail scenic enough. But I had forgotten how up-and-down this trail was, and it sure felt longer than I thought it would be. Also, even once on Ice Box, the high water meant there were lots of stream crossings, and detours up canyon side trails to try to get around the natural barriers in the creekbed. So, despite this being at least the 4th or 5th time up this trail, I wasn't moving very quickly, even once I was on the trail.
I think it was about 5:30pm by the time I got to the waterfall, which meant getting back to the car and out by 7pm was going to be tough. It would have been easy if I was parked at the Ice Box trailhead, but I already knew it would take me nearly 90 minutes just to get from Dale's trail back to Pine Creek (maybe a little less, since it's a net downhill hike on the return). So I walked rather swiftly. And, it being somewhat downhill, and over familiar ground, the return down Ice Box Canyon was definitely quicker than the way out.
I then decided I could move quicker along the paved road (despite it being longer) than along Dale's trail, so I went that way. After all, two miles on pavement, downhill, that's less than 40 minutes. So I wound up getting back to my car about 6:57pm, and reached the exit in my car at 7:01pm. No ranger handing out tickets, and the gate was open.
I don't know how strict they are at ticketing, but, so far, and I've never been more than a few minutes late out the gate. Do things change if you're 15 or 20 minutes late? Don't know, but prefer not to find out the hard way!
So about five miles of hiking for the day. As noted, great day for hiking, and very scenic with the water flowing.
Having seen this boat numerous times in articles detailing the "drought" in the West and the falling water level at Lake Mead, I decided I would go and have a look at it, myself.
All I knew was the refernece to "Government Wash." And, on numerous drives through Lake Mead National Recreation Area, I had seen a sign for Government Wash. Never drove down that road until this weekend.
Wasn't even sure if it was paved. But it turns out it is. In fact, this must have been a major watercraft launch point in the past, because there's a massive concrete boat ramp leading down to where the lake used to be. MASSIVE! Wide as a freeway!
Except, today, it's about a 1 1/4 mile walk down the wash to reach the waterline.
Erosion into the former lakebed by runoff has eroded parts down at least eight feet in the past 10-20 years that the bed has been exposed.
The main wash led to a flatter area, within sight of water. Grass had grown in, covering the clay and silt near the water. The lake bottom, meanwhile, had dried into small "cells," so you had to be careful when walking that you didn't fall.
From near the water, I could see a boat, laying flat, far to my left. Meanwhile, far to my right, was the upright boat made famous by its dramatic vertical pose.
I first went to the famous boat, walking through weeds. I flushed a fair amount of waterfowl as I made my way towards that boat (last shot in this post).
Walked along the exposed shoreline, took many shots of the boat, then returned to the less-famous boat on the left, then walked further south, atop the various high points between me and the main body of Lake Mead. Turns out Government Wash is connected to the rest of the lake by only a narrow strip of water.
Something around five miles, total. Just going to the boat and back would have been less than three miles. If you drove off the pavement and could find your way, you can drive to a high point overlooking the boat. Even a low-clearance, two-wheel drive vehicle could probably get pretty close. But since I'm hiking as much for the journey as the destination, I was fine with my route.
Lots of campers and RVs out this way, by the way. This area is a designated for free "dry," dispersed camping. It's not protected, however, so no shade, and the wind can be fierce.
It worked. I got to the parking area about 30 minutees after sunset, walked south, and easily found my first target, the "space alien with eye" formation I called, "Space Alien Arch." That's the first photo, above. Jupiter is the bright object. This is looking to the west, so the skyglow coming from the Las Vegas Valley is pretty obvious.
I then headed north a bit, to my second target. The comet is actually in this shot, as was my intent, but it had no tail, and was so small that it is almost imperceptible at this scale. It's above the two stars at the end of the Little Dipper, about half way up the photo, about 20% in from the right edge
Then I walked back to the parking lot and set up my tracking mount. Set it up dual saddle, with my 80mm f/7 refractor on one side, and my Nikon D3500 with 85mm f/1.8 lens on the other. I alsohad a .8x focal reducer on the refractor, making it effectively a 450mm f/5.6 lens.
My initial shots showed quite a bit of trailing, indicating a poor alignment. So I got behind my mount and adjusted both the altitude and the azimuth to get the main axis more closely aligned with the celestial north pole. Shots after that showed no apparent trailing, at least not at the scale I was shooting and enlarging.
The telescope shots were about 60 seconds at ISO 2000. Nice thin trail visible. Very happy with the result.
I also discovered that my D3500 produces very violet stars, quite different from my D780 (which was attached to my telescope). Not sure if that's due to a setting I made or just the way the sensors are calibrated, or perhaps if one or the other has or doesn't have an IR and/or UV cut filter built in. I definitely like the D780 representation of stars, better.
Went out to Joshua Tree last weekend. Took a short hike and some post-sunset night sky shots. Then came back early Sunday morning to catch Coment C/2022 E3 ZTF. My first time using a telescope I bought back in July for possible astrophotography. I already own an Orion Sirius mount, which is plenty to handle the 80mm f/7 refractor. I added a .8x reducer a month or so later, for wider, faster collection of photons.
Not particularly skilled with my technique. I eyeballed polar alignment with Polaris, set up my telescope, then scanned with my binoculars to find ZTF. After I found it with the binoculars, I tried without success to point my telescope on target. The equatorial mount is not very good at sweeping an area, and I didn't have an optical finder attached to my telescope.
So after about twenty minutes, I gave up, swapped my dslr for the eyepiece, and starting taking 30 second exposures of the general area, to find it photographically. After another twenty or so minutes, I finally did find it. I centered, and started shooting off exposures of 30-120 seconds, mostly at ISO 1600. Not technically good shots, but I was satisfied.
Later that morning, over breakfast, I downloaded some shots to my phone and edited the .jpeg in Lightroom for mobile. Best result here.
Also with this post is a shot I took at Facerock, the previous night. Thirty seconds at ISO 1600, 20mm f/1.8 lens. I've shot here before, and I like face!
Despite being only about 1/4 mile from the road (maybe 1/2 mile walking), it's been empty the last few times I've shot. Most folks crowd near the road, or on the other side of the road, at Skull Rock.
Click on the photos for larger versions.
I may post some daytime shots from the Split Rock trail, later.
Traditionally, the parade starts at 8am in Pasdadena, from the corner of Colorado and Orange Grove, and the Rose Bowl game starts a few minutes after 2pm on the afternoon of the game. The latter will likely change in the new era of a twelve team college football playoff.
I debated between the hills above Altadena (Pasadena-adjacent) or the hills above Monrovia (well to the east, but the planes appear to follow the foothills out that way after leaving Pasadena). Settled on Altadena. I headed up from Rubio Canyon, then took the first left up towards the Sam Merrill Trail.
Ended up in a bit of a rush, as there are a lot of road closures and traffic issues between my home and Altadena on the day of the parade and ballgame, but I made it to the trailhead about 1:30pm. Hustled on up to the Sam Merrill, and went to the first place with a view to the south. Pulled out the camera and waited.
Still plenty of hikes to blog from last year, and even a few from the year before. But that was my first hike of the New Year.
After the flyby, I walked back down into Rubio Canyon, then back up to view some of the waterfalls of Rubio Canyon. Very nice season for waterfalls, so far. Only had my dslr and telephoto, though, so no handy shots to post here.
The second two were very near a spot I stopped a number of years ago. I guess it always lights up and looks great around now. Same as last time, it triggered a "Wow," and I had to stop. Someone else was shooting family shots in the same area, and I tried to stay out of their way.
Kolob Terrace Road breaks from UT-12 while still early in the canyon, and heads along the west end of the terrace, overlooking the valley that is home to Cedar City. Spots of color stopped me on the climb, but the real show as after the road leveled out, beyond the front, and started weaving within the aspen. Small homes and cabins were scattered among some of the trees.
Click on the images for larger versions of the shots.
Hiked on consecutive days. On this trip, I stayed at the Travelodge in Palm Springs, a bit north of downtown. The trailheads are no more than two miles from the motel, just off of East Palm Canyon Drive (CA-111B).
On the afternoon of the 6th, I left the motel and headed "south" on CA-111B, East Palm Canyon Drive (on this segment the road travels west to east). Turned right (south) on Araby Drive. Using google maps to reach the trailhead as indicated on alltrails.com, I was informed that I had arrived shortly after crossing the sandy wash. This was about 2/3 of a mile from CA-111B.
I parked off the left side of the road, and saw a trail marker on the opposite side of the road. This is the Henderson Trail. Followed those signs briefly through the sandy wash (Palm Canyon Creek), as it worked its way around a private holding, then followed the trail out of the wash and across the pavement (I believe that's Landsdale Road).
There were both occupied homes and old ruins of homes within view of the trail. After about 3/4 of a mile, a sign for the Shannon Trail split up hill. That was the way to Cahuilla Peak. Tops off at about 1522 feet, or about 1200 feet above the starting point.
For my return, I took the Berns trail southwest, soon connecting with the Garstin trail, then eventually reconnecting with the Henderson trail, just before reaching the residential areas below. The Henderson trail runs up and down some as it stays in the volcanic hills rather than running along the wash bottom. About five miles for this loop.
The next morning, before driving home, I decided to explore this area from the other side. I took the Araby trail, which is another way up to Cahuilla Peak. Confusingly, however, you don't take Araby Road to this trailhead. Instead, you stay on 111B about 1/3 of a mile past Araby Road. Immediatey after crossing the bridge over Palm Creek Canyon, make a right. There'll be a green road sign saying Southridge/Rim (Drive), and also have a brown sign saying "Hiking Trail." Immediately after turning right, a small parking area, large enough for 12-15 vehicles, will be on your right.
From the parking area, another "Hiking Trail" sign will send you briefly up Southridge Road, before the trail shoots off, on the left side (if you're facing uphill) of the road.
This trail runs above a lot of mobile homes on your left, and larger permanent homes on your right. It's private property on either side, so stay on the trail and respect the privacy and property of trail neighbors.
This trail runs up the canyon on the opposite side from the Bob Hope house, before eventually placing you right south of the house. From this angle, a large water tank behind the home is obvious, as is a putting green with several sand traps on the west side of the house (not visible from west, due to foliage).
The Araby trail hits the Berns trail at the ridge, and the Berns trail heads west, to Cahuilla Peak. Perhaps slightly longer to the summit than via the Henderson, Shannon, and Berns trail, but shorter than the return via the Berns, Garstin and Henderson trails. Large portions of both trails are within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.
Note that dogs are not permitted on the trail within the national monument boundaries.
