For our first hike of the year here in Palm Springs, we chose a familiar spot in Palm Desert – the Hopalong Cassidy Trail. It’s only a 20 minute drive east on I-10 from our RV park and is a very popular trail for visitors and residents – and, it’s dog-friendly too!
We made it to the top – a kind lady hiker took our pic!
We left our park just after 9am and were parked and at the trailhead ready for the long climb up to the top of the hills overlooking Palm Desert to the east. The trail is really good and there are lots of switchbacks which make it a lot easier to hike up. I’d sure hate to have to trudge straight up one of these steep mountains.
Other hikers way down on the trail below us
The photo above gives a pretty good view of the trails and how they meander around to take the grade out as much as possible. We’re standing on one switchback looking down on another couple lower down on the hill.
It was another beautiful, warm morning. Paulette and I both started out wearing sweatshirts over our t-shirts but it didn’t take too long for us to ditch the heavy sweatshirts.
Stopping along the way to catch our breath
A reader asked about snakes yesterday and although there are rattlers in this area, we’ve never seen one in our 6 years here. I think they come out in the late spring and summer from what we hear. Rest assured, if we do ever see a rattler that will be the end of hiking in the desert for Paulette – she has bad snakephobia!
Made it to the mountain top!
By the time we were approaching the top of the mountain trail both of us were beginning to feel it a bit. We haven’t done any long hikes since before Christmas back home – and, in much cooler weather. We stopped for a few water breaks along the way to give ourselves a bit of a breather.
The entire hike took us 2 hours but I forgot to check and see how long it actually took us to reach the top. Once there though we found a flat rock to sit on and it was time for lunch. Paulette had packed sandwiches and boy were we ever ready for some energy. A nice lady hiker happened by and offered to take our picture – that’s the one at the top of the blog.
Heading back down the trail to the parking lot
Going down the hill was much faster but we did notice a whole new strain on muscles in our knees and legs. We’re definitely going to have to get out more and get our desert legs back. It was close to 1pm by the time we rolled back into the park – just in time for me to watch the Seattle Seahawks beat Washington Redskins.
Just to clear up any confusion I may have created about our Time Warner Cable Broadband Modem/Router combo, it does provide BOTH wired and wireless network connections. It works the same as the routers most of you use at home.
We have a wired connection to our laptops but could go wireless if we chose to move our laptops. I created a secure WiFi network and our iPads, iPhone and wireless Epson printer connect to the Modem/Router using this wireless network. It’s all lightning fast, unlimited data and costs only $35 a month. This is a real bargoon!!
Have a great Monday, and thanks again for visiting!
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