Roland Allen: Weblog

Sunday was a cool day.

I had hopes of going to look for wildflowers on Saturday, but Saturday was cold and overcast. The sun never made an appearance. However, Sunday started out promising. It was pretty cold all morning but about midday I packed up my cameras and drove up to Caspers Wilderness Park, which is only about seven miles from where I live.

The wildflowers were beautiful, although there wasn’t yet much variety. I hiked close to six miles and took quite a few photos that I’ve posted in an album.

It ended up being a “social hike” in that I talked to a few poeople along the trail. The first person I met was at the trail head. It turns out that meeting Bill was fortuitous. Bill maintains a comprehensive website that lists details of mountain bike rides and issues concerning the sport, and trail maintenance. His site is called MountainBikeBill.  Bill had been in the park all morning and had blown out the sidewall of his rear tire, but had patched it up enough to continue riding. I liked his attitude.

It’s January 2, 2008. I’m at a coffee shop in Palm Springs thinking about the drive to Los Angeles later this morning.

This has been a wonderful Christmas holiday. A friend asked me if I had made any New Year’s resolutions. I have. I bought a small notebook and I’ve resolved to do more personal journaling this year. My resolution involves an off-line tool, however, Lifehacker shared online tools that could assist with managing resolutions, if you’re looking for some assistance.

While this isn’t a resolution, I am trying to enroll in a photography class at a local community college. I submitted applications to two districts. So far, the course I want to take is filled, but I plan to go to the first meeting of the class anyway. My second choice class is at a college in another district. I’m waiting for the admissions decision so that I can enroll in that course, just in case the one I want doesn’t open up.

Speaking of photography, I have photos of my time here in the desert. I hiked on the Art Smith Trail on New Year’s Eve. The Art Smith Trail is pretty stunning. The trailhead is along Highway 74 as it leaves Palm Desert going up towards Idyllwild, California.

The trail gains elevation quickly and the views are spectacular. The light changes a lot because of the mountains, which is great for a photographer. There are a number of trails on the mountain, but some of the trails are closed in order to protect the Big Horn Sheep that are native to the area. I came upon an oasis that is about two miles from the start of the trail. That’s a very cool spot, at about 1800/1900 feet elevation, sitting in what appears to be a creek bed high on the mountain. It’s very cool.

Photos of the Art Smith Trail and the Oasis:

I wanted to go for a hike yesterday, but I was actually pretty tired from the prior day’s hike and the New Year’s Eve party I went to. (I’m not a late night person.) Mid afternoon I decided to drive up to Joshua Tree, which is only about 40 minutes from Palm Springs. It was an easy drive into the high desert. Joshua Tree National Park is known for a particular type of Yucca tree. Most people know of Joshua Tree from the U2 album of the same name. The trees are cool to look at and somewhat remind one of a wise old man.

I have to say that last night’s sunset up in the high desert was traffic stopping. In fact, a lot of people did what I did - they pulled over to the side of the road so as not to miss the sunset.

Here are photos from yesterday’s adventure to Joshua Tree, California:

Below is the Town Saloon in Joshua Tree:

I put my camera and tripod close to the ground and quickly captured this photo of last night’s sunset. I chose not to edit the photo and straighten it.

You can see my Joshua Tree photos in this gallery.