Bear Creek Oasis Nov 8

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. 

Santa Rosa Plateau May 1

A parks district advisory meeting at the Santa Rosa Plateau visitor center was the perfect excuse for me to show up early and finally check out this intriguing open space west of Temecula. The plateau is an uplifted tableland on the southeastern flank of the Santa Ana and Elsinore Mountains. Quaternary basalt flows cap some of the mesas with spheroidally weathered granite peneplains underlying the landscape between. The area is surrounded by fancy ranch homes (lifestyle blocks as they might be called in New Zealand), vineyards, and orchards but remarkably this area has been preserved, offering one of the last remaining landscapes of oak woodlands and prairie grasslands in southern California that would otherwise be developed. It really is one of the best places I know of to get a feel for the rancho period of California's history. The plateau is also important for its unique seasonal vernal pools that pond on top of the basalt and are home to a fairy shrimp found nowhere else.

I planned out a 14.5 mile loop that would take in most of the main trails and varied landscape on offer (I ended up covering a 13 mile loop). I would call it a run except for the many many photo stops I made along the way. I started off on the Granite Loop Trail near the visitor center through scrub, boulders, and stately oaks, then followed Waterline Road into the expansive interior. The sky started moody and dark but gradually broke into scattered clouds then blue skies throughout the morning. 

I ran along the road beneath the basalt capped Mesa de Burro, then followed a narrower trail into the wild oak wooklands of the valley headed towards Mesa de La Punta. Splashes of orange poppies, red monkeyflowers, and purple lupines colored the way. Several miles in, I was feeling good running despite my ankle injury, spurred on in part by the surprisingly varied scenery. 

I got nice distant views of the plateau's horizon as the trail climbed back up out of the valley and approached the historic adobe buildings at Santa Rosa Ranch. Here my run briefly stopped to walk around the two adobe buildings, including the one room Moreno Adobe built in 1846, supposedly one of the oldest remaining structures in Riverside County. Though it appeared nestled under the protective arms of an enormous oak tree, it still seemed miraculous to have survived fires and floods this long.

Moreno Adobe, built 1846

From the adobe I continued my clockwise tour along the perimeter trails, this time ascending the hillside up towards the vernal pools. Along the way I spotted two gopher snakes sunning themselves on the trail. Patches of poppies, lupine, yuccas, and prickly pears between the basaltic outcrops made for a lovely foreground to the main vernal pool. Here too my run crept to a walk out onto the boardwalk onto the vernal pool, ducks and other waterfowl lazily cruising around the shallow pond. The section between the adobe and the vernal pool trailhead was the most popular stretch of trail, but still the other hikers numbered less than six.

As I approached the vernal pool trailhead I nearly stepped on a baby rattlesnake, new enough that its rattle was more of an unformed stump. I stopped to watch it until it slithered off the trail. I continued on the Los Santos trail as it wound narrowly up and down swale and rises, mixing between grasslands with extensive views and oak stands.

As I left the Hidden Valley trailhead I was beginning to feel the miles wearing on my feet and the remaining time I had running short. I ended up taking a slightly more direct trail back rather than the detour up Monument Hill that I had planned. At the end I finished the other half of the Granite Loop, a neat way to bookend the run as the terrain was similar to how I started except now it was a clear sunny day. My 13 mile run took me about 4 hours- not particularly speedy but very enjoyable and peaceful.

I ended with just enough time to clean up, change, and look professional for my meeting. I greatly enjoyed my grand tour of Santa Rosa Plateau. Though the trail would be well suited for mountain biking, I really enjoyed the isolation that came with the effort to get to the remote corners of the preserve and sparse visitation. I'm sure the vernal pools and the wildflowers would be a sight to see if they could be caught at their peak.

Abel Tasman Dec 12

After a slew of errands and catching up with friends in Richmond, Ruby Bay, and Riwaka I had a touch of time to kill before appearing at Kaiteriteri and so opted for a run along the Marahau end of the Abel Tasman Great Walk. It was a beautiful crisp day (if a little breezy) and a moderate low tide so I enjoyed the views of mud flats, golden beaches, and distinct Marlborough mountain ranges as the track traversed the coastal cliffs. I ran about 7.5 miles in 1.5 hours; I would have liked to have made it further but was short on time and frequently stopped for photos at each gap in the trees. It was a short visit but certainly better than nothing. Surprisingly there were quite a few people out for an evening walk on the track.

Coal Creek Falls Dec 3

 

As our logistics would have it we finished fieldwork a day early and the others needed an early start to catch their new ferry crossing and so I ended up getting dropped off at Mary's in Runanga early in the morning and hanging out in her sleepout listening to the rain until a reasonable hour. It was almost the first time since I arrived in New Zealand this trip that I did not have to rush to the next thing and so was a welcome, if brief, change of pace. I largely spent the day getting organized and caught up with Mary and our many common interests. By the afternoon I was getting a little stir crazy and noticed that the other side of town seemed to have a nice DOC track to a scenic ledge-style waterfall. Despite light drizzle and the occasional mud pit to avoid, I greatly enjoyed this run through mixed bush. Closer to the falls the track parallels Coal Creek, which in its current highly swollen form looked like it would be a pleasant packraft. I passed one side creek waterfall, and caught glimpses of a rapid between the trees before arriving at the end of the track at the base of the roaring waterfall. I should have known better but almost immediately slipped spectacularly on a near frictionless wet boulder of Island Sandstone, hitting the rock hard square in my back as I prioritized saving my camera. Ouch. I snapped plenty of pictures, avoiding mist on lens as best I could, and contemplated which line I would take if I were bold enough to packraft over the falls. After enjoying the solitude of the falls I returned the way I came, a short but worthwhile outing.

Wellington Nov 13-16

It was my first time back in New Zealand since the covid pandemic with a busy schedule of a weeklong geology conference in Wellington, a journey down to do several weeks of Alpine Fault fieldwork, and then a bit of time to myself traveling, catching up with friends, and ideally getting up to some adventures. It was my first GSNZ conference since being a PhD student and so was a nice opportunity to catch up with many NZ geology folks, even if things had a sober undertone due to some of the geology departments being recently gutted and NZ academia struggling overall. My talk went well enough and I enjoyed the many conversations. I also finally got to see the Victoria tuataras out on display. I did not manage to make many evening plans with folks which meant I had the chance to use the long days to squeeze in some nice runs around the city. One evening I ran the city streets to Mt Victoria (4.5mi) for commanding views of the city and a few Lord of the Rings filming locations. Another evening I ran the other direction through the botanic gardens (impressive aloe collection!) to the Te Ahumairangi Hill lookout west of downtown for a nice sunset. I'm far from being a city person but Wellington is thoroughly tolerable thanks to its interesting terrain, easy walking, public art, open spaces, and great views. It was a pleasant week overall with my main stress being to arrange weekend plans before our ferry trip down south the following week.

EF San Gabriel River May 7

Realizing it might be our last opportunity to do local boating together, Heather and I drove early morning Sunday out to the East Fork San Gabriel River. I stopped briefly at the take-out to check water levels and annoyingly saw a group damming a channel with logs. Happily the river still had plenty of water (450 cfs?) though it was noticeably lower than a week previous. We found one of the last prime parking spots at the Bridge to Nowhere trailhead and walked the old road down to the river which put us on about a hundred feet below the nastiest log sieve on the whole run.

 

I led the way. We had a few miscommunication issues on this first 3.5 mile paddle but otherwise had no major mishaps. I stopped to cut some obscuring tree branches at one spot and we still had to do one portage around a river-wide log strainer. We stopped a few times to catch our breaths and Heather wanted to scout the rapid under the highway bridge that she flipped on in 2020 (it was a much different and more straightforward rapid this time). Arriving at the Graveyard Canyon takeout I was quite annoyed that a giant church group was the culprit in damming the river to create a baptism pool. They completely blocked the trail to the parking area with their canopies, AV gear, and chairs and so we had to find a different way up. It was only slightly humorous that they had giant speakers that required a giant generator, and the speakers were only barely winning the battle for noise. I ran the roughly 3.5 miles back to the car and we loaded everything up at about noon. It took us about 1 hour 15 minutes to do the run so now we were debating whether to try another lap or not.

Heather voted for another lap after we visited the small general store and this time we put on at the Cattle Canyon bridge for more straightforward access and a 3 mile section. This lap we did non-stop other than the quick portage, taking us 35 minutes total, overall much more satisfying to blast through without stopping. We noticed considerably more people hanging out along the river this second lap. The church group was still in our way at the takeout. I ran back to the car in 30 minutes and then we were off, happy to get some more whitewater and exercise. We both agreed the second lap was a good choice. 

I always find the roadside East Fork section to be bittersweet. It is great to have a local sometimes-river but I always see so much evidence of disrespect for the land and for other people. There are trash and graffiti everywhere, crime-scene toilets, and it is generally a well used and abused section of river. And yet hopefully not everyone trashes it and there are always plenty of friendly faces and kids waving, excited and surprised to see people paddling by them on their local river.

Washington DC Dec 10-14

With the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington D.C. I got to spend a little time exploring the nation's capital. Overall I was pleasantly surprised. The metro system worked well and made it easy to get around. Though mostly bound to the meeting I did manage a chilly evening run around the National Mall, visiting most of the major monuments en route. I also got to take a half day off visiting some of the museums: National Botanic Gardens, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Air and Space Museum, and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. All were neat to see. Some photos below from some of these jaunts.

        The monstrous AGU poster hall