Short hikes

I took a couple of short hikes with Gayle and Jim just after I arrived at my new home overlooking Mittry Lake.  We found a trail that led up to some cairns and other interesting things.  On the way we crossed over a spillway on the canal.  This is a vital key to a hike we took later in the week.  I will get to that later.

We followed a trail that led up into the hills.  There were several rocky points where we crossed a wash, but no big deal.

Then we got to a spot with lots of cairns and even some Cristmas bulbs hanging from a cactus.

We could even see Imperial Dam LTVA from here.

This was the stopping point for both hikes as we then turned around and followed the trail back.  On the way I was able to get a pic of some of the beautiful foliage.

Where did the trail go?

Yesterday Jim and Gayle Life’s Little Adventures Debbie and myself were met by Boonie of Occupation of Independence and Glenn of To Simplify as well as Ted of Life With Kurumi and Chris Ford who also camped with us at Quartzsite.  Plus the dogs Coffee Girl, Rupert and Elliot.  I didn’t take Chica as many of the rocks were bigger then her.

We started out on the same trail as we had taken before.  Once we hit the cairns and Christmas bulbs we decided to continue down the trail.

The trail was well marked and somewhat easy for quite a while.

We found many flowers in bloom along the way.

Where’s a bridge?

Then it got confusing.  We could see the canal from the top of the hills, but couldn’t see any place to cross it.  Boonie, Glenn and Ted had gone ahead of us and we weren’t sure which way.  Remember the first photo in this post.  That’s the canal we had to cross.  So we took what we thought was the trail to a spot where we could cross the canal.  It wasn’t much of a trail, but it seemed our way out.  I saw Boonie, Glenn and Ted walking on the other side of the road.  They spotted me and were yelling to go higher.  So that is what I was doing.  I still could see Gayle on the trail much lower and she was telling me to go lower.  HELP!

Too Risky!

I took Gayle’s advise and went back down to the trail.  Then it got very risky and we decided it would be much easier if we went back on the trail we came in on.  You must realize that I am no where near the hiking ability of Gayle and Jim.  They are very experienced hikers.  So I was getting very tired and all three of us were running very low on water.  We really hadn’t planned to hike as long as we did.  It was now about 12:30 to 1:00 and it was getting hotter.  Then all of a sudden Gayle spotted a car on a bluff not too far from us.  The guy (Steven) said he would get us back to our camp so we made our way over to him.  I didn’t get a pic, but this was the terrain.

Thank you Steven!!!!

All three of us piled into his car and he had to drive 4 miles back to the bridge that went over the canal which was the road leading to Imperial Dam.  Then 5 miles back to our camp.  He even gave us something to drink.  What a great guy!  He was just about getting ready to start fishing in this great spot along the canal when he spotted us.  What a good Samaritan!!! 

We all got back and sat around the camp for a while exchanging stories and relaxing.  It was a great day in that I met so many new friends and Coffee Girl as well.  Next time I go hiking I will be sure to take more water and a snack bar.