Indian Hill Pictographs

Indian Hill Pictographs ©

March 31, 2013, Joel Hawk

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

What a fun outing...short, but sweet.  It's a short walk across the desert floor (round trip of 1.6 miles) and the ground is flat, so it's pretty easy.

We went on this adventure about a week or so early.  There wasn't much rain this year, so the flowers will be sparse, but just the same, they were pretty.

So were the ladies.  :)

Chris dubbed this cactus the desert asparagus.  Up close, it really looked like it.  I got hungry.

As I said, the desert floor was pretty flat so there wasn't much of a hiking challenge other than to try and keep from getting poked in the leg.

Our destination is only .8 miles away and once there, we found this really large, overhanging rock.  Naturally, being the young men Jack and I are, we had to climb around underneath it, but we asked Chris to hold it up for us just in case.

We walked around and searched for old pottery pieces and arrowheads, but did not find any here.  I had found some pottery at another rock pile a few months back about 1/4 of a mile away.  But, we did find some morteros and one set where we figured there was an Indian restaurant at one time.

Then we set off to find what we really came here for.  This wasn't as easy as I originally thought, but with the DeFranco Explorer Team, we did succeed.  I've heard these are the best pictograph collections in the County. 

                                   

No one knows for sure what these mean or how old they are.  And who knew these were right here in our own County?  Beautiful shots from the past and truthfully, I walked right past them a few months ago without even knowing....
There are a couple drawings that look like they were added to the original collection and that's sad, but we take the good with the bad.  It was a beautiful, cool spot for a snack.  That done, we set off for a short walk to see what else we could discover.

We found two palm groves down in the canyons about a mile away.  I really zoomed up to capture these trees.  Then we headed home via the Lazy Lizard for some cool refreshments.

I hope you enjoy this little article.  It brings a smile to me every time I see these pictures.

Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands.   ~ Joel

Directions and the numbers:

Travel East on I-8 and exit at Ocotillo Wells.  Drive through town and when you come to the Border Patrol checkpoint, go another 200 - 300 yards and turn left onto a jeep dirt road called Dos Cabezas.  Follow this road to the train tracks and water tower.  Turn right before crossing the tracks and drive past the train trestle.  Park off the road where you can and then cross over the tracks on your way.  You can follow the old jeep road on foot or by horse, but cannot drive on it.

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Suicide Rock in Idyllwild

Suicide Rock (Idyllwild) ©

April 20, 2013, Joel Hawk

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

I had heard about this fun hike through some friends and it was time for some more exploring.  So, Chris who we call “Warrior” and I decided to take the jeep on a little drive, so off we went.  It’s about 2 ½ hours out of San Diego and along some pretty scenery.  With the safari top on and some nice music, we set off on our adventure.  Along the way on 79, we saw some very creative art along the road.  I had seen some horses before and posted about them, but there have been some very cool additions since then.

After a very enjoyable trip, we arrived in Idyllwild, found the Ranger Station and got our required but free permit.  With permit in hand, we set off for the Nature Center/Deer Springs Trail and our hike.

This is a well maintained and heavily traveled trail and is recommended for the family.  A little steep in some places, but a very nice walk in nature.

I'm not sure what flower or fungus this is, but how pretty the bright reds are against the browns of the forest.

The trails start off in the State Park and then cross over into the San Jacinto Wilderness, but all the trails are well maintained.  If you hike far enough, you will cross over the famous Pacific Crest Trail.  We didn't do that on this day.

The views are incredible and it was such a perfect day for a hike.  All days in So. California are like this.  ;)

We traveled along the very shady trail with gentle breezes keeping us from getting very hot.  Chris mentioned she heard water running and we soon came upon this very nice and natural water feature the Lord provided.

We reached the trails end and started looking around.  There were a number of people there having a snack and some were tight-roping.  They were out of sight, so no pics, but man, that's gutsy to be up that high and practicing their tight rope skills.  I kept looking for the "real" suicide rock because everything I was finding just could not have been the spot where those two Indians jumped.  In my research, I came to learn the entire rock structure is called Suicide Rock.  But, to sweeten this fable, here are a few story lines I found online describing how it "really" goes about these two lovebirds (it's a Romeo and Juliet story - only Indian).

(Paraphrased) An American Native Princess met and fell in love with an Indian Brave from another tribe.  Her father forbid the relationship, but she loved and ran away with the Brave anyway.  Hearing this, the father sent other members of the tribe out to find his daughter and kill the Brave.  The Princess did not want to live without the Brave, so they jumped to their deaths together off of Suicide Rock.  So the story goes....

I searched for the logical jumping site and could not find anything or anywhere that made sense.  So I continued on around some large boulders and found a spot worth investigating.  Getting to it is very risky...getting back up is even more risky.  But I skinnied down to this 4 x 6 ledge and peered over.  Man, that took my breath away as it was straight down for a very, very long way.  I could not see the face of the rock...just open air and the tops of the mature pine trees way the heck down there.  Chris took a couple of pictures of me since I left my camera up on top - big mistake.  The first shot below is how far down I had to climb to get to the ledge and the second is zoomed up as much as she could get.  I was sitting because honestly, I was a little scared.  Right behind where I was sitting under the pine limbs were two rusted chain links where others were climbing over the face.  Wow!  No signs of recent activity, but if there was a spot to jump, this was it.

I say it was a mistake that I didn't take my camera with me because, after climbing back up, I wasn't about to do it all over again.  I don't use ropes or chains, so you can understand my concerns.  However, I did take this video as best as I could.  This is my first attempt in including video in my blog, so maybe in the future they will be better.

As I had mentioned before, the scenery is stunning. 

 

Looking across the valley, you can see Lilly Rock and Tahquitz Peak.  Tahquitz Peak is on my list to do someday.

What a fun way to spend the day.  Good health to you and yours.  Live life to the fullest.

Be safe, enjoy living and appreciate our lands.   ~ Joel

Directions and the numbers:

Travel to Idyllwild Ranger Station in town and pick up your free permit.  Then, continue to Idyllwild Nature Center and park across the street or park in the parking lot (it will cost $5).  The trailhead is just across the street from the Nature Center.  Total round trip is appx 7 miles, 1700 total ascent with a max elevation of 7528 ft.   Overall this took us about 4 hours.

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