No snakes were harmed in this blog entry...

Another site seeing day (another heavy picture blog). We headed out to Indian Canyon today, would you believe lush foliage along a flowing creek in the desert? I didn't - but what a great place (again). The first stop was about an hour long hike at the foot of a cliff like hill next to a flowing creek with Palm trees and other plants along side it. This was a lovely hike as you had areas of shade to keep you cool (not to mention we were there before lunch)...

We got there just as a tour guide was starting his tour and we tagged along with him for the first little while - what good luck that we did as he found a 1.5 to 2 foot rattle-snake sunning himself on a rock ledge. The guide (not us) picked up the snake gingerly and told us all about their life and let us get close to see and for photos. When he was done, he carefully placed the snake back where he found it. However, for the rest of the hike I found myself checking rock ledges and crevices for other snakes...













At the top of the hike, we saw buildings where people still live (vacation?) that are placed on the side of the mountain - we ran into a local who stated that they have no electricity, water, etc...











On the way down we found that the rattle snake had moved lower, and we were able to get some more shots of it...





I think he had enough of the hikers and was trying to get away from everyone by trying to cross the creek - check out the video...

We then took a short drive to the next area of the park and as it was early afternoon by now and HOT we opted not to do the 26-mile hike (phew!) but took the short 10-minute hike down to a waterfall instead. What a hidden gem in the desert - a beautiful waterfall between boulders...









While down there I crawled down to the streambed to look around and was scared out of my wits when "something" walked out of the empty cave at the base of the waterfall (just from the shadows in the pic below...)


Well, the "something" turned out to be a fellow hiker who had found a hidden trail in the cave that would take you to the top of the falls. So I crawled back to Mom and Dad to grab my camera - entered the cave and found the trail...

What a great view from up top - I'm so very glad that the we happened to be there when this guy walked out - or we wouldn't have known this hidden path was there...







Anyone visiting Palm Springs (and area) and who loves a good hike (easy walk) should visit Indian Canyon - it is absolutely lovely. The picture below behind Dad is the beginning of the 26-mile hike (maybe one day...)


After the Park we headed to Bev-Mo to re-stock and then Costco for a quick bite of Pizza and some shopping and to pick-up the Ahi Tuna for dinner (yum!).
And although we got back to the resort fairly late in the afternoon (and the wind was picking up) we managed some time in the pool and hot tub before dinner of Ahi Tuna and Mom's Potato Salad.

Ahi!


Evening shots of the cloud covered San Jacinta Peak and the campsite...