Palm Springs Cold Adventures

After Jims  stay at the hospital (hey, it was all inclusive), I thought I would take him down to Palm springs for a REAL holiday.  It was Short and Sweet, but  little did we know, we would hit their 'winter condition warning"

Oooh,  high of 17-18 degrees  Celcius  (low 7-9) , 30 mph winds.  They knew we were Canadian cuz we were the only ones in shorts!

So instead of whining about the cold weather, we took advantage of cool things to do in the cool desert.

Cold Weather in Palm Springs Positives:

Beautiful sunrise's

Great weather for running, hiking, and SHOPPING!

Cheap hotel that includes breakfast (that carried me till dinner). Cheap food, big portions.

Cold weather forces us to ' Howard Hughes' hole up in the hotel... and hang out in the hot tub!

Adventures and Highlights

Visit to dessert interpretation center... as dark looming clouds crept in. Cool Ironic views.

Hike up to canyon.

Palm to pines highway drive. Windyfun

Shopping at Palm Desert- too lavish for my budget!!! but really nice art shops. Saw some scary looking plastic surgery/ botox mishaps.  

GREAT  10 mile run along ARTSMITH trail;

- Desert trails,

-Oasis

-Beautiful views of Palm Desert below

AND BEAUTIFUL RAINBOWS IN THE DESERT !!

Now thats special. I don't know when I will ever see that again!

But to get that rainbow, we had to go thru some  wicked rain and wind- can't even hear what I have to say below;

And, isn't that just life.... you  can't have rainbows without a little rain.

Heather

And this is why I run...

PALM SPRINGS

After Schlopping around in the rain in Vancouver this last month, Jim and I decided to take advatage of a deal to Palm springs. Aaaaah, sunny Palm Springs! Hot, dry, 25-30 degrees.

AND THIS IS WHY I RUN....

Not  so much for 'winning' or  a 'tight butt', but more so I can adventure through backcountry and see things that others could never see! I am my own 'tour bus'. But instead of sitting in a stuffy bus, seeing only the touristy things.  I get to feel the terrain, smell the air, touch the plants and go places a tour bus could never go!!!

 RAVE 10 mile RUN  IN PALM SPRINGS

While staying in Palm Canyon Drive area, we would look up at the mountains wondering...where the trails are. With some local investigation and driving around we found the LYKKEN TRAIL!

Short warmup on the road, then straight up switchbacks for 1.2 miles or so to immediate vistas! Then, a fun  run alongside the mountain with views of Palm Springs below.  What a Beautiful way to start our day!

Cool trail.

We ran until we basically hit , well ,a cliff. I believe it is called Taquiz Canyon. Again, beautiful views.  We met a lady who did  a hike straight up every Sunday for 18 years. She was unaware this longer/more gradual trail existed. Funny how people get in a rut.

INDIAN CANYONS

We shared our love of the outdoors with our Daughter. We did a very interesting hike thru the oasis then up top of Indian Canyons.  A lovely 2-3 mile easy, hot hike.  She thouroughly enjoyed it.

JOSHUA TREE

Of course, any visit to Palm Springs should include the drive thru Joshua Tree National Park. Amazing trees,landscape and rock formations. Nice campgrounds with lots of rock climbers. There is actually a climber on the TOP of the phallic rock on the right. Amazing.

MISC

Of course, the trip includes shopping, drinking, and lounging by the pool. But those events weren't nearly as memorable as the adventures above.  I can't wait to go back. There is soo much more to see and do! I want to hike more in Joshua tree, and go visit the 'Salton Sea"- the start of Badwater race, etc, etc,

I think we were the only ones in Palm Springs who diddn't golf!  ha ha !

Heather

Running friends rock!

Jim and I have ran together for years. Did more serious runs the last 3 years. I love him, he loves me but... it gets kinda boring. Especially on those 3 hr runs. The odd arguement actually adds interest to the run. Something to work on before we finish. Or sometimes a good disagreement makes me go faster- cuz I'm gonna 'show him'. My friends are now scared to run with me... and now I'm seriously behind on the gossip!

Well, lo and behold we found some great people in our area that like to run the distances we do ! I was afraid I wasn't good enough to keep up, but so far the long runs have been very enjoyable.

What crazy people would run with us? let us outsiders in ? tolerate our tacky sense of humour?...the same kind of crazy people that are doing the "Marathon de Sables" in the fall. This is one of the top 10 endurance races on the planet! ( Time magazine).It is so nice to be surrounded with people with positive attitudes- even if they did do more mileage than me this week, or maybe are carrying a heavier pack. What I am most impressed with is that they are a great TEAM. They look after one another, and each team member brings their own strengths. They are raising funds for Variety club for children. For more information visit:

http://www.trailwinders.com/

We did a great 4 hour run on Sunday around Diez vista/Lakeview/Academy trail and finished with a soak in Sasamat lake. I look forward to many more runs with them!

Now, if I can only decide if/when I want to do a 50 K. I was thinking about the North Face in Bellingham June 6th, but am not sure if I am ready. It could be a good practice run/wake up call for others in the future. I have always liked to dive into the hardest thing first, then everything else seemed easy... but I may bite of more than I can chew by the looks of the 3000ft + elevation gain on this one. Still thinking.....