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Hello there, reader. So nice of you to pop in and read about my trip to Southern California! I will be trying to describe all parts of this trip day-by-day, with lots of detail, and many pictures. So sit back and enjoy! This was the day to take a trip to Indian Canyons! Indian canyons actually isn't a bunch of canyons at all like I thought it was going to be. It's a set of hiking trails weaving up, around, and in between mountains. This was an amazing hike. I've always wanted to go hiking around mountains. I certainly got my wish on this day! Plus, it was freakishly hot to boot. I enjoyed every minute of it though. Don't think that I didn't.
While we only hiked something like a mile and a half each way, it felt like it was much longer. I liked that. It being California and all, there were of course many palm trees. But they weren't like normal ones you see in the standard pictures of California. These were BIG trees. Wanna know how big they were? Just look at the pictures to the left and right! They were mammoth. Seriously mammoth. I felt a very cool feeling standing beneath all those trees. See, the path that we chose to follow was a path that went in between several mountains where there was obviously an underground water source because there was just the wide strip of palm trees weaving in between the mountains while on the mountains, there was nothing but dry shrubbery and big rocks. Nothing else. We also came across a very small pool of water that must have seeped up from underground or was still there from the last rain storm...whenever that was. Certainly not a recent one! The path that we followed ran right along the edge of the line of palm trees and next to a beautiful wall full of slanted sharp rocks that had worn down a bit over the hundreds of years they had been there. It would have made a nice texture for a 3D model if I had remembered to get out my camera and taken a picture of it! *sigh* Oh well. While we were hiking, we came across a daughter and several park rangers who were looking for her lost father. I had seen the story on the news the night before in the hotel room. Her father ventured out hiking alone two days beforehand and he hadn't come back yet. I was surprised to come across them on the usual path of the park. I would have thought they would have searched the main paths by now, but they were just finishing. This was the father's third day alone out in the sweltering heat of the desert. I haven't heard anything more of it on the news since I got back home or from anywhere else. I hope they found him.
To the left and right are some shots from the path that winded around a large rock formation that I found just gorgeous. I took pictures from 2 sides of it. Very different images. Hope you enjoy! (If you want any of them for your desktop wallpaper, please email me and I will be happy to supply you with the correct size of the image.) After we passed the daughter, we came across the most terrifying part of the journey for me. My dad and uncle didn't have a problem with it, but I did. There was a stream about 2 feet wide and a very steep uphill slope immediately after it that went up for about 4 or 5 feet. After that, the path continued. Now, I would not have a problem with it if that was all there was there, but buzzing around that particular area of the stream were about 20 wasps. I hate wasps. I hate anything that stings. I have never been stung. My father has been stung and it was discovered that he is fatally allergic to bees, wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, and anything else of that nature. I do not want to find out if I am or not. Especially the hard way. If I find out that I am then I will be even more terrified whenever one gets even remotely close to me. My dad is not scared of them really so he and my uncle leaped over the stream and made it up the slope without a problem. Now, I know that the wasps aren't the least bit interested in me, but I didn't want them to become interested, so I was terrified. Finally, I gritted my teeth and leaped over the stream and scrambled up the slope with all the strength I had. Not a fun experience. But the thought of having to come down and jump over the wasps again when returning along that path to go home was not far from the front of my mind. Despite that, I continued on and tried to forget that thought. We kept hiking on and on. Trust me, this was immensely enjoyable. A great exercise too! I'm really glad I remembered to put on my sun block! While my dad and I were starting to get hot, tired, and ready to start heading back home along the path, my uncle wasn't even showing any signs of fatigue! He just kept going along without a problem. He had done this before though. My dad and I are from flatlands, so hiking on mountains is a new thing for us. At one point, my Uncle Brian said while pointing at a cluster of trees in the near distance, "Okay, we'll just go up to that cluster of trees and then we'll go back." My dad and I looked at each other tiredly, sighed, and agreed to continue on the journey. When we seemed to be passing the trees up all together, we asked, "Exactly how much further are those trees?" As it turns out, my uncle just said that to get us to go a little further. The path never lead up to the trees at all! *SIGH!* We only went a bit further until we all decided that we weren't going any farther. Below are a bunch of pictures I took at our stopping point. It was actually a good spot to stop. Great view!
After we caught our breath and drank a bunch of water at this stopping point, we turned around and started to head back down. Yes, we did get to that steep slope and the swarm of wasps. After edging down an inch at a time, I lost my footing and slid down a couple feet. Terrified, I just pushed off the slope and leapt over the stream, fearing for my life the whole way. It only took about two seconds, but it felt long to me. I made it past unharmed. What an adventure! (I never want to do it again! ^_^) As if the wasps weren't enough to scare me we encountered a rattle snake as well! *sigh* That got me just as terrified. So we just went around that. We were on a flat part so going around the snake wasn't a problem. Still scary though. To the left is the picture of the snake and to the right is the picture of that pool I talked about earlier. We passed again, so I thought I'd put it here. Once we got back to the hotel, my dad, Uncle Brian, and Uncle Kevin all went swimming while I stayed in the hotel and just relaxed. I was even too tired to swim or do anything else but watch television and sleep in the hotel room! I was that exhausted! The next day we went back to my Uncle Brian's place. Click below to see what happened on Day 5. 
Gandalf1210@attbi.com Feedback is always welcome! |
