San Gorgonio Wilderness, the Whitewater Preserve and the dreaded Mission Creek climb 4/30/14 - 5/2/14

Last night was wonderful sleeping under the stars, we got up & out early heading for the Whitewater Preserve.  After a few hours uphill we dropped over a crest into the San Gorgonio Wilderness where the wind was really blowing. 

We passed the wind farm.

I struggled up this steep valley

and pretended to hang onto the sign lest the wind blow me away!

A couple of hours later we could see Whitewater creek below.

The PCT is visible on the right, it dropped us out onto the valley floor and we hiked .5 miles into the preserve. 

We saw this lovely flowering shrub by the trail and hoped the Rangers could help us identify it. 

Crossing over the creek we found ourselves in a valley of granite boulders, granite sand and what looked for all the world like the glacial stream beds in Alaska. 

At the preserve we rested in the oasis of Sycamore and Cottonwood trees, trout pools, white desert sage brush and clean toilets! We took a picnic table in the shade and rested, napping and having lunch. Later I wandered to the Ranger station and chatted with the ladies there who looked up our flowering bush; a Sand Blazing Star, evidently quite a find!

The Whitewater Preserve Station.

We stayed for hours waiting out the heat, it was 85 degrees.   We cooked our dinner, got water, wet our hats etc and marched off into the desert at 5:30 pm.

We began to see some of the flowers we'd identified from the books at the Ranger station. 

The back of the station where trout ponds were located.

This is our late afternoon route through the creek bed and up into the hills surrounding Whitewater Preserve. We hiked only a few miles and camped in the next valley where it was protected from wind and we had a nice quiet night. 

The next day we were coming into the Mission Creek area where hikers may have trouble getting through the long, long hike up the creek canyon, water is there but not always easy to get to, it's dry and desolate. 

This is an early morning shot in the great desert light. The wind would gust so hard we'd turn our back to it and hold on tight.

We rested in shade around 11:00 for a few hours and moved on again.  Too hot, so we found another spot to rest.  Again, I had trouble hiking far, even though we were drinking water I just felt like I'd hit a wall.  I started eating the lifesavers the trail angel in Idyllwild gave me, it helped.  We rested more and met other hikers struggling up the canyon. We climbed 5,000 ft up that day and finally got to the end of the canyon where the stream was just 6" across.  Other hikers had stopped and set up tents on the sand so we climbed to a flat spot above the creek under a big live oak tree and started cooking dinner, getting ready for bed.  Three other girls joined us,  there must have been 15 people camping in that tiny box canyon. 

I realized later I'd not taken many photos, it had been too hard going.  The dry windy area was colorful with flowers though and I got photos of some.

Indigo bush.

Chia. Yep, that's where the seeds come from. Blooming it has a bunch of tiny blue flowers that cover the round balls.

 Owl Clover.

Wild Cucumber.

Canterbury Bells.

Orange Globe mallow.

Everybody crashed after dinner & we were up at 5:00 the next day hiking up out of the canyon.  We knew there was water in 6 miles so we each took 1 L of water.  We later filled 4 liters for the section ahead and our dry camp. 

This is another hard day, we knew it was going to be hard just getting up out of the canyon but there is also the added aggravation of a poisonous plant called Poodle Dog Bush, whose poison is worse than poison oak. We must avoid it at all costs. 

The first spirit lifter for me happened in the first mile: a ruby throated hummingbird!   I caught the vibrant tiny red flash as it turned it's head. It was sitting on a tree branch 20 feet from me. 

This shot is looking down on our camp site in the cottonwood trees below, the trail would look like this for many miles today. 

We climbed up and out of the desert to Ponderosa Pines, Sugar Pines, old red barked Cedar trees and high 8,000 foot elevation!  Lovely country.  We could finally see San Gorgonio covered with snow and look south to see San Jacinto from where we'd come!

San Gorgonio.

San Jacinto and the desert floor we hiked across 3 days ago!

Down we hiked into a lower elevation, but still up at 7,500 feet and chilly. We hiked past animal cages holding old grizzly bears that used to be in show biz but now are retired. Pretty sad actually. 

We found a camp sight 1 mile north of them and set up camp for the night.

My hair is coated with salt, clothes are stiff with it, we both feel grungy and I've worn my cap for days now, not daring to take it off. We both long for a bath and a place to rest out feet.