Pretty Valley
3/17/2022: Mojave Yucca in bloom, Prickly Pear and a nice trail to Horsethief Creek. Horsethief Creek is rather anticlimactical, but a nice hike getting there. You won’t see many people. The first ½ mile or so of the trail is a burn area.
Marg’s Notes: 81°/55° Horsethief Creek/Santa Rosa Wilderness/San Bernadino Forest. This was fairly close to Palm Desert. Got to the trailhead at 8:30 after driving to Palms to Pines Hiway 74. VERY TWISTY! I had to close my eyes…a bit carsick. Not too warm. Higher elevation. An interesting hike thru very varied landscapes! Started out with rocks, dirt, cactus, mesquite. Walked thru a burn area. Also went past an old quartz quarry. Climbed a bit into pines & some dry creek beds. Saw about 10 people. Lots of up & down. Ended up at a creek. Very nice. Went a bit further & had trail mix & H2O at a nice spot by the creek. This is part of a longer trail that can be backpacked. Our snack spot would have been a nice campsite. Good hike back, not too strenuous. I changed into cooler clothes when we got back to the car! Grilled cheese for lunch. Rest, swim, happy hour (fizzy H2O for me!) 5.22 miles, 2h 34 min.
Soup & Salad
Laundry!
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: It is about 8:30. The temperature is 55° but feels warmer. Not a cloud in the sky. Make sure you do not follow the signs to the trailhead for horse thief creek. Go to Sawmill Trail. We have hiked a mile to the “hazardous conditions ahead” sign. While this is not a trail that jumps out and grabs you for just pure beauty or vistas, it is unique in the trails that we have done so far in this area. A lot of Prickly Pear cacti along the trail. It took us an hour and a half to get to horse thief creek. It is a pretty creek but rather anticlimactic. It has a nice trickle, we are here by ourselves, and the large trees on the other side of the creek are good shady place to have a snack. This is definitely a hike where you see the desert meeting the forested areas. It is really quite unique. You look around and you see trees that may be cottonwoods and stuff in the creek and then you look up a little bit and you see cacti and other desert plants growing on the hillsides. This hike was into the Santa Rosa wilderness. It took us just over an hour to hike back. It is 70° outside and we hiked a total of about 5.2 MI. A fun and enjoyable hike. I gave it a four on AllTrails.
The trails have been good on this trip, but there has been a lot of heat. I must say that hanging out at the hotel has been really good because we have been doing happy hour, enjoying the pool, reading and so forth. This website is not all about busting your arse on the trail. Hiking with Rod also includes enjoying yourself.