Led by Kirk Olsen and Jeff Johnson
Photo above: The easternmost San Bernardino peaks under clouds, and the Whitewater River – the view from our lunch spot on Saturday.
By Jeff Johnson, story and photos
Mission Creek is the Wildlands Conservancy property just north of the Whitewater River and west of Palm Desert. There’s a campground where many of you have probably stayed and a trail connecting to the Pacific Crest Trail. We went there for a Spring weekend to hike around in pleasant weather, admire the snowy mountains nearby, and see what was in bloom.
We arrived on Friday to find Mission Creek running nicely and goldfields in bloom all around camp. We were soon surprised by a large local church group arriving to camp next to us. Then the wind picked up and, after dark, it rained. Campground commotion followed next door as our neighbors’ tents blew around and collapsed. The GLS campers were better prepared. Saturday morning, with rainbows in the sky, the church group packed up and left, and we went for a hike.
Our route took us first to the PCT. Then, where the PCT goes uphill to the east, we followed an old ranch road to the west toward a precipice overlooking the Whitewater River in the distance. The San Andreas Fault goes through here and it looks like geological disruption all over the place. We had our lunch in a sheltered spot, then returned down the trail.
Many things were blooming, some familiar, and some strange and new to us. One botanical highlight was the unidentifiable “laundry detergent bush”—that’s what the flowers smelled like. After our potluck dinner, we had a quiet night in camp under clear skies.
Sunday, some of us wandered out again across the creek and up into the hills, and some stopped at the ruins of the T Cross K guest ranch by the road on the way out.
We look forward to doing it again next year. We’re thinking of extending the hike into a loop, returning by way of the Whitewater River.
Around the campground at Mission Creek
On the trail
Some plants and flowers we saw
