What do you do when you’ve been sick with the flu for a week? How about hiking up a mountain trail in plus 80 degree weather? That’s exactly what Paulette decided she wanted to do early yesterday morning as she was feeling much, much better. She figured a hike would “kill it or cure it”. After 2 hours of climbing up steep grades I think Paulette was cured – but, it darn near killed her!!
Talk about a long and winding road – this hike was it
We left the Sands RV park just after 9am and arrived at the Cahuilla Park parking lot around 9:30 – it was already 76F! There’s very little shade on this mountain trail either so we knew it was going to be a hot one. But, we had lots of water and figured we could take a rest in the shade of some big boulders if it got too hot.
If you can make out the trail – we walked every inch of it 
Our goal was to make it all the way to the top where there is a huge iron cross. We’ve been up this trail a few times and made it all the way to the top before even though it’s about a 2 hour climb. We started out just fine and were enjoying the bright, sunny day and the always spectacular views of the Coachella Valley.
Just one more hill, just one more corner, just one more……
Paulette did an amazing job but started to tire a bit about half way up. She still wanted to get to the top but at the 1.5 hour mark, and just a few hundred yards from the cross, she’d had enough. Paulette said her knees were going rubbery so we had a bit of a rest and then started the long, but much faster, trek back down the hill – it only took us 30 minutes!
We got this close, but couldn’t make it another inch!
The A/C in our truck never felt so good – we had it on full blast. It wasn’t long before Paulette was feeling good and glad that she’d taken the plunge to rid herself of whatever her ailment was. To celebrate, we stopped off at a Dairy Queen for Ice cream cones – Molly and Rylie shared one too – they sure loved that.
Back at the Sands, we stretched out in our loungers and just rested for a few hours. I got tired of that and went up to the pool for a swim. It was a perfect day, just right, so the park was alive with people all about – golfing, swimming, playing pickle ball and just going for walks around the park.
More of the desert trails we hiked on Thursday
Around dinnertime, I was going to light up the BBQ and at the last minute decided we should go out for dinner to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We chose a new restaurant over in Palm Desert, the Backstreet Bistro, that was recommended by my golf and dog park buddy Mel. It’s an Italian restaurant and Mel was sure right about this place – it was terrific and very reasonable. Another gem to return to!
The Palm Springs River – isn’t it a beauty!
Looks like my Quilt Store Chauffeuring days may be over for this year as I put my uniform in mothballs last week. Then, Paulette decided she wanted to go to a quilt show in Hemet on Friday. After some discussion, she figured she could drive the truck down there herself with her friend Sandy riding shotgun. If this goes well, I could be out of a job next year!!
Have a great Friday and thanks again for visiting!
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