TODAY’S HIKE
What beautiful weather we’re having in Palm Springs and it’s time for a hike. As I’ve said before, many know Palm Springs as a huge shopping mall, some as a place where movie stars hang out, others as one huge golf course but Gary and I know Palm Springs as a mecca of trails. Palm Springs is surrounded by mountains and, where there are mountains, there are trails.
We decided to take a trail that we took in December of 2010 and enjoyed a lot. Interesting how memory can play tricks on you. When we returned to the car after our hike in 2010, I remembered the trail starting with a steep uphill but leveling off and winding between and around marvelous rock piles in a high valley. Well, that was after we had come down. Today, remembering that, I felt betrayed by my memory as we inexorably climbed about 1500’ to get to the wind-around-the-rock-piles section. Had I forgotten the long steep uphill in the beginning
However, no matter how much I had forgotten about the first 2 miles of the trail, it is still a neat trail. We started out in short-sleeved hiking shirts with long-sleeved shirts over and in our hiking pants with the legs on. Within a mile we had shed the legs and the long-sleeved shirt. The temps were 47 when we arose but, by the time we had started hiking at 9:00, the sun was out and it was getting toasty.
In 2010, we had met 3 Canadian women coming down the trail as we were ascending. We chatted about different trails and then went our separate ways, we to continue up the trail and they to head down and home. Today, as we were climbing the trail, we met 3 ladies coming down the trail. They recognized us and we them. What are the chances we would be on the same trail on the same day and at the same time this year too? But, what fun.
‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.’
‘Same time, next year’ we all said as we departed.
About 1 1/4 hours into the trail, at 10:30, I asked Gary if he had any goals for the hike, subtly trying to determine when he wanted to turn around to begin the trek back to the car. He said something about hiking until 12, having lunch and then turning back. Now, we hike at a 20 minute mile pace and that would have us hiking out 4 more miles and then turning around having to hike all those miles back. Let’s do the math here. I suggested 5 miles out, lunch and then hike back. He did the math and thought my plan a splendid one. We hiked a bit more, found a nice ‘soft’ rock near a pool with green grass, bushes and fan palms for lunch.
This area is ever so much drier than the deserts we’ve been hiking in Phoenix. Those deserts were verdant compared to the brownness of the rocks, the lack of cacti and the leafless bushes here in a Palm Springs winter. Here the stars of the geology are the rocks, often scattered so thickly that bushwhacking would be nearly impossible. However, there are several oases of palms along a canyon near the trail. Their green stands out against the brown of the rocks and bushes.
We have noticed that the sun sets earlier here than in Phoenix. In Phoenix, we knew we had to be off the trail at 6:00. Here, on the other side of the time zone, we have to be off the trail at 5:00. Good information.
As we were climbing down the hill at then end, we again agreed that it was a neat hike: challenging, through some awesome territory and long enough to deserve a donut before starting.
JALAPENOS
Dinner: my lips burn, my throat burns and my tongue burns. Ugh. A while back we had bought a jalapeño and cheese stuffed chicken breast entree in the frozen food section of a grocery. Not the smartest purchase for two plain fooders from Iowa. One of us said: ‘How bad could they be if they’re selling them right here in the store?’ Big Mistake. At the end we were picking the peppers out of the stuffing and drinking lots of milk between bites. I had to wait a bit before I started eating my salad to let the burn in my mouth calm down.
DEBATES
We listened to both Republican debates this weekend and what a difference between them. The moderators for the Saturday evening debate kept asking questions designed to promote confrontations between the candidates.
‘Governor Romney, Speaker Gingrich called you a liar yesterday, do you have any comments about that?’
Good TV but a lousy way to determine who should be the candidate.
The moderators for the Sunday debate asked substantive questions, designed to elicit positions. Much better debate.
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