6 April 2023
Live Oak Spring Trail to Palm Springs
(13 miles, +300/-4,000 feet).

What a great day!

It started with a spectacular sunrise.

I was a little worried about finding my way down to Palm Canyon. There is absolutely no trail here, but bare patches of ground started to come more and more frequently, making it easy to stay out of the shrubbery.

As I lost elevation it got drier, rockier, and pokier, with more thorny bushes and cacti lurking in the shadows. But I took my time and avoided incident. The main inconvenience was that I needed to head due east, right into the morning sun.

I had to cross Oak Canyon (not to be confused with Live Oak Canyon!) twice, and the second time involved a couple of Class 3 moves. But I probably could have avoided those if they looked dangerous.

At the top of my mini-climb out of the rock-walled ravine, I found a lovely flower I had not yet seen on this trip.

As I neared Palm Canyon, I finally got my first glimpse of a trail.

Alas, the “trail” petered out after about 100 feet.

Where the trail disappeared, I discovered an ancient sign that pointed the way to the water feature I had just stumbled on.

Fortunately, the terrain got really easy here and the descent to Palm Canyon was on wide granite slabs that tilted downward at a manageable angle for upright walking.

I wound my way through the brush in the canyon and then found a rock hop across the 10 foot wide creek running in the wash.

And then…… Real trail!

I took a long break, stuffed my face, and then started my cruise down an extremely-well-maintained trail. It appears that it is multi-use, because there are also many mountain bike tracks.

After about half a mile on the Palm Canyon Trail I found a sign at the junction with the Live Oak Spring Trail. There did not appear to be any obvious trail behind the sign.

I continued on, and in no time I was immersed in the superbloom of 2023. It was SPECTACULAR. And my best flower moment came early, as I found my favorite species right on the trail.

But there were lots of other flowers that were almost as nice.

Soon I started seeing intermittent palm groves. Each of them was impressive in their own right.

And the flowers just kept getting more and more colorful and frequent as I continued heading down canyon.

After a while the trail crosses out of the National Forest and onto land maintained by the Agua Caliente nation. And just after that transition zone I had to make a choice.

There is a network of trails here in “Indian Gardens” as the park is called, and I wasn’t sure which of the trails would be best. I chose to follow the Indian Potrero Trail because it stays low near the creek, where I thought there might be more color. And there was!

After several miles of intermittent palm groves with 5, 10, or even 20 trees, I came to think that these were the main attraction of the park

But I was SO wrong.

Because near the end I rounded a bend in the trail and saw this:

I don’t know how many trees are in this grove, but it seemed like at least hundreds. They follow a ravine and then continue along Palm Canyon Creek for over a mile.

Soon the trail takes you right into the trees, where you can follow them all the way down to the origin of the grove.

My toughest water crossing of the day came right at the end where the creek was quite wide. It took me about 10 minutes to find a challenging-but-possible rock hop.

At the end of the trail there is a snack shop and a parking lot where I hoped to get a ride to the entrance of the park where I could get an Uber.

But I had not seen anyone all day! Just one guy on an e-bike about two hours before.

And at the snack shop there was no one but a ranger and one other worker. Apparently the park is closed this week!

I asked the ranger if the only choice was to walk the road. He said yes. But he also gifted me a very cold bottle of water (thank you ranger!).

And the road walk was lovely.

When I got to the entrance I explained to another ranger there why I was in the park. It was fine. But she asked me not to tell anyone else, since there were nonstop cars arriving and being turned away due to the park closure.

I climbed the fence on the road and then sat under a palm tree to call an Uber.

And then I was done!

I feel a little bittersweet about aborting my thru-hike attempt. But today reminded me of why I like to hike.

I love walking but I very much love seeing things that are new.

I love trails, but I very much love the challenge of route finding.

I should probably be spending my time on shorter hikes.

I already realized all this on my previous thru-hike attempts. But for some reason the lessons have not stuck.

I feel a little more settled now. Maybe this will be my last attempt. We’ll see.

But for now I am very much looking forward to my section hike of the PCT in Washington state with my buddy Goose in August. It will be all new and I will be with a good friend.

I can’t wait!

Today’s Hike-U:

Superblooms
Pictures don’t capture
The thrill of kaleidoscopes
Sprung forth from Nature