End Pavement

There was a post on MetaFilter today with links to lots of cool pics of the Salton Sea by a guy on Flickr. I’ve never actually seen the Sea, despite having driven near it numerous times, but it’s definitely on my list of Things to Do.

The Salton Sea: “Jonson takes pictures of The Salton Sea, which is a strange place, like some kind of huge, perpetual, Burning Man, but by a huge, salty, polluted, manmade lake with distant shores, dying fish, has-been resort towns, Salvation Mountain, fundie dinos, fountains of youth, and nice churches. [via mefi projects] [previously] [howdy]“

I posted on Celsius1414 about the various restoration efforts last year: “Press-Enterprise: Salton Sea help gets closer”.

Here are some photos from yesterday’s hike.

In the Blaine St. parking lot at the bottom.

This is a Floss Silk Tree, visible alongside the road as you walk up to the trailhead. I love this tree and always take pictures when we come through here.

Close up of the Floss Silk Tree.

Part way up Two Trees Trail, looking back down on Riverside. That’s Sugar Loaf on the right.

Part way up Two Trees Trail. Photos up here seem always to come out like impressionist paintings. :)

Otis digging food out of his pack while we take a breather in the parking lot halfway up.

Pharaoh takes a break while I check out directions.

Confirming the GPS is pointing things out properly. ;)

Alex spies an interesting bird and sneaks up for a picture.

From the midway parking lot, looking up the trail leading to the top.

On our way again.

Alex and Otis work out the local geography.

That white shape is part of the giant letter “M” overlooking Moreno Valley, at the top of Box Springs.

Pharaoh is pooped. :)

Reche Peak to the left, with Reche Canyon and the area around Hulda Crooks Park just beyond.

Last October, Alex and Otis and I, along with Pharaoh the standard poodle, took a hike up Box Springs Mountain, chronicled in this post on Celsius1414: “Box Springs Mountain, Riverside County”. Before today, I’d done that hike three times, I believe. Also, we’d done the Two Trees Trail twice. Today, we combined the two hikes.

Alex had borrowed a GPS unit to try out today, so hopefully we can get some real data off of it later.

Here’s a view of both trails in one 3D picture (click for larger):

Parking is in a dirt lot at the farthest end of Blaine Street in the vicinity of UC Riverside, at 1245′. A short distance away is the trailhead for the Two Trees Trail, about 100′ higher. The top of the trail is at about 2305′. Around 1.5 miles one-way to the top, through some nice terrain that gives great views of the university and out to downtown and beyond. Here’s a 3D view of this trail by itself:

Here’s the rest of hike from the perspective of the other side of the mountain:

This portion is about 2.3 miles one-way with a 725′ elevation gain from the parking lot. According to the map, this is officially Box Springs Mountain Road, but it’s dirt in various states of repair all the way up, providing access to the various towers and antennae dotting the top.

The views were hazier today than they have been in the past, so not as much could be seen past a certain distance. Despite this, however, there is still much to see.

The tally for the day:

• 8.04 miles
• 1,805′ elevation gain
• A little under 4 hours

I should have some actual photos later on. Photos here.

With this hike, I’ve also officially gone over 100 miles for the month, combined walking, hiking, and biking mileage, which was a goal of mine.

No pictures today, but a fun time — at least, as fun as it can be commuting to work. ;) It takes about an hour by bike one way. It was in the 60s today, which is fine cycling weather.

It’s funny. Driving to work takes around 20 minutes, depending on traffic, so 40 minutes every day. An additional 80 minutes spent gives me two good workouts, saves me money, and does wonders for my mood.

Remarkable moments:

Morning

• Pair of what I believe were military Chinooks heading north-to-south.
• Passing through my wife’s childhood neighborhood out in what’s left of the orange groves, now being torn up for housing developments. Always makes me a bit sad biking through that stretch.
• Smiling homeless couple walking along a sidewalk with a scruffy dog on a leash between them — but neither of them was holding the leash, as it dragged on the ground behind the dog.

Afternoon

• Checked out the Santa Ana River (waterless, of course) from the Orange Show Road bridge. No evidence of the official SART trail yet, though plenty of space for one, gated off. Lots of graffiti on the underside of the bridge. This is in the middle of the dotted “under development” line on the SART plan map, and is about 3 miles up river from the Mt Vernon Avenue bridge SART entrance I found last week.
• Crazy-strong burning pot smell that lasted a few blocks — I was starting to think a slow-moving Volkswagen Bus was up ahead. ;)
• This was replaced, after I turned onto a side street, by a cloud of perfume smell from a woman standing in her front yard. Here’s a free fashion tip: if I can smell you from fifty feet away, outdoors, you probably have too much freakin’ perfume on.

The combined tally today:

• 21.87 miles
• 12.6 MPH average

Tomorrow, we have a nice hike planned. Looking forward to it — I find myself getting sketchy if it’s been too long. :)

Some cameraphone photos from the Santa Ana River Trail exploration last Saturday.

This is next to Washington St in Colton, about where I entered.

Looking the other direction. Nobody else was on the trail during my 6-mile round trip — a handful of ATVs buzzing around in the riverbed, but that was it.

The trail heading under a railroad bridge — pretty much every flat surface had some sort of graffiti in evidence in the Colton/Grand Terrace section.

Under the La Cadena Drive bridge.

Looking to the right from the previous picture, the “on/off-ramp” for the SART from La Cadena. This is what I had been looking for via the older Google Earth imagery.

And turning around from the previous pair of photos, the lovely bike path ends. This is looking “down-river” toward Riverside, and the paved section stops…

…which never stops me, speaking of End Pavement. ;)

The temperature was alternatively comfortably cool and chilly as the sun moved in and out of the clouds.

Mid-construction. Looking good so far.

Whoops! Well, so much for that. :) Actually, it would have been easy enough to bypass, but I was about 11.5 miles from home late in the afternoon, so this was as good a place as any to turn around, about three miles from where I entered in Colton.

Ah, but what’s this? Off to the left, a promising dirt road heading into a canyon, with dozens of crows or ravens flying around. Time to explore!

Mostly heard rather than seen, dirtbikes were running here and there in the distance — otherwise, no people.

Pretty standard steep SoCal canyons, with various pathways heading hither and yon. Worth another look someday, whether on foot or two wheels.

So, a successful initial expedition, with some current and potential routes between Riverside and the east end of the San Bernardino Valley. Can’t wait until the whole trail is done from the mountains to the sea — it’ll be an awesome ride.

C.I.C.L.E. today points to a cool-sounding event a week from this Friday, on Groundhog Day. ;)

BikeWinter, Los Angeles’ only homegrown, grassroots, bicycle festival is set to begin again - and everyone’s invited! The festival will get rolling on Friday, February 2, 2007 with a nighttime party in Santa Monica following the Santa Monica Critical Mass ride. After the opening night party, the festival will continue across Los Angeles with daily bike events for nearly two-weeks. A full schedule of rides is available at http://bikela.org