Sunday, February 21, 2016

Palm Springs, CA - Bump & Grind

It’s a two-fer day today: farmers/flea market followed by a hike, natch. But first I’ve got a treat for breakfast: home-made cinnamon rolls. I’ve made yeast cinnamon rolls many times in my life but today I found a recipe for store-bought crescent rolls, roll them out, sprinkle with a maple syrup/cinnamon/brown sugar syrup, roll up and put into muffin tins. Voila ! ! ! Cinnamon rolls - and, just the right size. Add a dish of fruit with yogurt and we’re ready for anything.

But first we headed on over to the College of the Desert which sponsors a flea market, fair, food carnival and farmer’s market all in one. Want new dark glasses, how about stuffed dates, a new patio set, a new key ring, how about some colors for your coloring book or maybe you’d like to have your grandchild memorialized in a song. These are all available along with thousands of items you never knew existed, like a rosemary de-leafer, hmmm, can I do without this item in my kitchen? Yep. But it’s the Red Flame Raisins, the ones that are as large as your thumb and as soft as a pillow that I come for. I Discovered them about 6 years ago on our first trip to Palm Springs. Tasted a few and bought a pound. Nope, not enough, we went back to the fair the following Sunday and bought more. Since then, we’ve (I’ve) bought 5 pounds every time we’ve hit Palm Springs. They never last long enough - which would be until we get back to Palm Springs to buy some more. Here’s a hint: first taste them and then don’t buy the ones already prepackaged in plastic bags. They will be old and chewier. Buy the ones the vendor has to scoop out of a big container into a fresh bag just for you. Ah-h-h, soft and tender.
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The fair was as usual, lots of good food vendors, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables (we bought our 5 lbs of raisins and 3 lbs of strawberries and various other fresh veggies.) We wandered around checking everything out to see what we just couldn’t live without (which was everything). The tool and miscellaneous tent was filled.
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We sat in the food section to listen to the music and chated with a couple from the San Francisco area who used to have an RV and used to stay in the campground where we are now. But, we knew we couldn’t put it off too long - it’s time to hike.
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There’s a trail in Palm Springs, the one lots of locals take for exercise, called the Bump & Grind. It’s a circular trail beginning behind a local mall: head left for a short steep workout, the Bump for masochists, head right for a long slow climb, the Grind. We’ve done both.

In the picture below, the Grind is the slanted line going up from middle left to upper right which then heads left again.
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Who in their right mind goes on a treeless, sunny hike at noon on a day when the temperature hits 89? You got it. We do. We found the only parking spot in the shade, changed into our hiking togs and off we went - up the Grind. It climbs pretty steeply and we got some great views right away. The higher we climbed, the better the views out over the Coachella Valley to the mountains of the Joshua Tree National Monument across the valley. Or back across the range to snow-capped San Jacinto.
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It’s been pretty dry out here in California - a number of years of drought and the rain this year is heading north rather than south. But we still can see flowers on the trail. (I don’t know all the rules about what is prohibited and what is permitted. But, I do notice that the golf courses have water and that lots of the housing developments have waterfalls and lush greenery.)
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Were we alone on this trail? Nah, others were out in the noonday sun with us though I suspect that there were lots more earlier in the morning.
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Families, other couples, groups of guys and women. Enjoying it? I’ll let them answer that. Were we? Sure, any time we can get out on a trail is time well spent. I kid that I like to summit but not to climb. Not true - I love the exhilaration which comes from reaching a summit but that can only be had when if you climb. Most people say ‘no pain, no gain’ but that’s a bit negative. I prefer a positive: the harder the climb, the sweeter the summit.
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The Grind climbs slowly and inexorably towards a small lookout which is the top, 900’ in elevation where the views across the Coachella Valley are sumptuous. Here you can see the large mall right below the mountains and the city spread out below.
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After the climb, then begins the precipitous drop down to the bottom where we left the car. Precipitous and slow going sometimes. We met this little guy and a few of his friends on the way down. He was striding towards me so I stepped over him to get a picture. He turned and began to stride towards me again. Testing him, I stepped over him - sure enough, he turned and began to approach me again. Aggressive little fellow. And - he flies. We were dive bombed for about 40’ until we got out of their range.
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This young man was running up the Bump side of the trail with a weight pack in front and a backpack on his back.
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After we changed shoes and socks, shook out our hiking socks and banged our dusty boots together, we bought some sodas and headed back to the RV.
Here I am with my strawberries and raisins.
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