The major grand reopening and ribboncutting ceremony for Lake Cahuilla Veterans Regional Park in the Coachella Valley was yet another opportunity to visit a new-to-me park in my role as county park commissioner. A full day was planned with a fishing derby, swimming lagoon, bounce houses, food trucks, tabling, and even a sunset drone show, but I was only planning to attend the ribboncutting ceremony at 11am. Per my apparent tradition, I sought out an opportunity for a hike or trail run before the event. Though I probably could have been productive with some Martinez Mountain Landslide fieldwork, given the time constraints I decided to check out the trail to Bear Creek Oasis originating in the "cove" behind La Quinta. As I arrived I was impressed at the number of people of all ages out hiking, dog walking, running, and biking before the heat of the day. Really active good vibes with some very nicely maintained trailheads to boot. I packed light with one liter of water and a fanny pack, and set off across the sandy alluvium at about 7:15a, already feeling a little heat brewing. Within minutes I passed the Cove Oasis, a nice collection of palms, palos verde, and shade structures and continued on past the flood control berm into the active wash. The trail hugged the east wall of the wash which provided welcome shade for a half mile before the trail crossed and began to climb the foliated metaplutonic slopes of the detachment fault turtleback.
As the trail steeply switchbacked I got ever better views over the broad Coachella Valley and eventually the Salton Sea to the southeast. This would be rugged country were it not for the trail. I enjoyed the good variety of desert plants and the contrast between the hangingwall and footwall rock types and terrain. I only passed one solo hiker heading down as I headed up. As I neared 2000ft vertical I was a little careless and managed to kick some loose cholla chunks, forming the only real break as I carefully pried the barbed needles out of my shoes with a small rock.
Rounding a corner I finally got a view of Bear Creek Oasis and within a few minutes was inside its shade. No surface water and plenty of loose palm fronds coating the ground, it was still a pleasant spot with patches of deep shade. There were probably about 40 palms and with no other people it was a pleasantly isolated spot. I spent a few minutes exploring different photo vantages throughout the oasis as well as up on the slopes above, before readying myself for the journey back down. I had a 17 minute hiking pace on the way up. Given my time constraints I would have to average better on the way back down.
Despite the heat I was feeling surprisingly rejuvenated and sure-footed running the whole way back down the trail. I was surprised to pass several groups heading up and was glad to be heading downhill as the furnace was nearly pre-heated. Downhill provided me with even more views across the vast tectonic basin.
In all I made it back to the car in about 2.5 hours going 9.2 miles with 2300ft gain. I gave myself just enough time to drive 20 minutes around the hill to Lake Cahuilla, park, change into my park garb, and then participate in the ribboncutting ceremony. It was a nice well organized event with community leaders and veterans. I particularly enjoyed that from the ceremony pavilion I could see across the manmade Lake Cahuilla some of the old shorelines from the true ancestral Lake Cahuilla, which we all would have been just beneath the surface of. Going for the extra credit options I ended with a trunk full of rocks from Whitewater and then a banana date shake from Hadley's. All in all a solid day.
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