First time up Indian Canyons

[zippetydude]

Wow! I'd seen it mentioned here, but had no idea whatsoever that it was so beautiful. If you're out in the area and have never been, I'd really recommend you go explore the beautiful streams and amazing waterfalls.

You can even run into friends there. I was walking along the trail, and some guy passing me on the way back down sticks out his hand for me to shake and says hi. Being polite, I take his hand and say hi, then take two more steps and realize it's Walt. (Walt must have very sharp eyes, picking me out of a group like that.) He and Chuck (traveling incognito with dark sunglasses) were out with their beautiful wives just as I was hiking up with a group of friends. I think I would have recognized them sooner, but my eyes were dazzled by the beauty of their female counterparts.

There are some truly amazing waterfalls farther on up, especially where the main stream splits from the trail. There's a huge cave formed by giant rocks piled together, and the water falls down in the middle of it all. Again, wow!

By the way, we found a tire near the waterfalls. A tire. There are no roads up there. Who in his right mind carries a tire up a stream? There were 10 of us, so we took turns carrying it back out. No one in our group could even postulate a reasonable theory for how the tire got back there. Any takers?

Anyway, I see now why it's popular. I'm probably going to see if I can take my wife and critters (read: pesky daughters) out there in the next week or two. It's spectacular.

z

[halhiker]

There are SO many great hikes in the Indian Canyons that after exploring there for years there are still places I'd like to check out.

You've got to do Murray Canyon. Great, easy hike: four miles and ends at a series of waterfalls.

West Fork Trail is a great loop trip, about 10 miles.

Exploring up Palm Canyon there are a ton of places to explore, too many to expound upon.

And not only are there the great trails in the canyons but also a lot of great cross country travel and trails of the "ancients", i.e., old Indian trails.

The only drawback is that you have to get out so early and there is no overnight parking. To go into the backcountry you need to get dropped of.

Glad you had a great time. It was a perfect day to be there.

[Cy Kaicener]

A great hike in the Indian Canyons is the Maynard Mines trail with about 2600 feet gain in four miles one way. It looks like you can go a lot higher. The old Tungsten mine is a piece of history.
Maybe we will see some of you next Saturday on half a Skyline.

[magikwalt]

I like looking at stuff when I hike, not staring at the trail. Spotting ZippetyDude wasn't hard at all. GQ hair cut, no shirt and then no shoes? That definitely caused a second look. Since I've bumped into Barefoot Ted before I looked higher to see who it was. The famed ZD moving at a slower pace.

Chuck and I had intended on checking out the West Fork up to 3,000ft in prep for hiking Jo Pond up to the PCT. The ladies wanted to go to breakfast so we compromised. Little hiking and a little breakfast.

If you like hiking trips that have water and waterfalls then the Indian Cyn area is a dream spot right now. The trails are green like Hawaii.

[guest]

Hey Zip,

I'm glad you got to experience one of the true magical places of the southwest! You saw it in a rare form of beauty, it's only looked like this twice in almost 8 yrs!!
The tire probably came from the old jeep trail, accessed from the Dun Rd (Cat Cove to Pinon Pine), people used to have keys to the gate before BLM got involved.
The Wellman family (i.e. Wellman Devide) still runs cattled in upper Palm Cyn, and used to access that area via vehicle, the roads are fairly washed out now.
The Desert Riders ( w/ help from the Henderson trust I believe) have a small patch of land up their too, accessed by the same way, you might have seen the portapotty.

If you & others want to do some canyoneering type off trail scrambling sometime, I can take you to some very cool areas.

Also, if some like you & Walt & friends want to do the whole Jo Pond (13 miles, about 6k of gain) and can help arrange a car shuttle back, me & a few friends are going to plan it when most of the snow is gone.

BTW, you also have a beautiful wife, they must like you outdoor-types!

ss

[Cy Kaicener]

http://cvhikingclub.net has a scheduled 10 mile hike with 2500 ft gain from the West Fork to Andreas Canyon tomorrow (Wednesday). I dont think I can make it, but if you are interested call Robin 760 322-0324 Tell Larry Liguori that Cy told you about it.

[magikwalt]

If I remember right the are some petroglyphs a short ways after the turn heading to Andreas.

[KathyW]

Cy: The Coachella Valley Hiking Club hike sounds good - I wish I could go. They have some great hikes scheduled. I'm going to try to go on one soon if they have room - the Quatro Peak hike in March is one I know I want to do.