Back in the Wash

It’s quiet and serene and a great place to get lost inside your head. There’s usually a small muddy creek meandering by. The scrub brush is in full bloom now and nesting birds flitter about endlessly. The stillness there can be deafening with only a few fleeting sounds floating by. All is peaceful until once or twice a year when the rains come and wash that complacency away with astounding fury and force in just a matter of moments.

Then as the left over residue slowly settles into the newly formed crags and crevices, the wash goes back to its dormant life once again.

We experienced that here in the desert not too long ago. A record three and a half inches of rain fell in one day. Contrast that to an average rainfall of five inches for the entire year and one can understand the magnitude of the hard rain pounding on concrete soil.

Before the rains, the wash is alive with horseback riding, mountain biking and hiking.

Horse trails become mountain bike meccas. Hikers wander the wash, meandering back and forth as the rutted grounds give way to dry beds. Arroyos cut in the corners and debris lies crumpled up in distorted jumbled piles randomly deposited everywhere.

Then after the rains, new trails have to be forged on a totally altered landscape.

Fortunately for me, the wash isn’t the only place I’ve found for tranquility and peace in his part of my world. As a fellow hiker commented the other day. “It really is one of the best playground for adults in the world.” I’ve also found a host of other newly discovered venues to get lost in around the Coachella Valley.

My tabernacle on the Lykken Trail

My tabernacle on the Garstin Trail

Coachella Valley Preserve lagoon

Top of the Tram

Garstin Trail

Joshua Tree

Afternoon hike along the wash

They are all magnificent escapes just steps away from my home. Places to meet and greet and at the same time go solitary if I want to. Its heaven’s confessional where I reveal my earthly sins; the good ones, the bad ones and the fun times in-between.