Life's a Stitch

There is no universal scale of trail ratings. What’s considered moderate in one guide is easy in another. It’s totally subjective. I sorted through all the “easy” ones in the book “140 Great Hikes in and near Palm Springs,” and am generally finding them underrated. 

Recently we hiked the Bear Creek Canyon/Boo Hoff Loop Trail, rated easy: 4.5 miles, 2 hours, elevation gain of only 400 ft (123 meters). Piece of cake, right? Maybe, if you remembered your hiking poles.

We started out on even ground and quickly came to the realization that the trail was too flat. 

We looked up to see the ridge where we should have been. We always add in “lost time” so we were on schedule. Not far back we had missed the turn, but in all fairness there were no trail markers; we were following written directions from the guide. Actually there were three more instances of questioning our location. Luckily each time a hiker approached from the opposite direction to reassure us.

It was unusually green given the recent strong rains that hit the desert.

It’s when you hit an inclined surface like this that you seriously consider your lack of poles:

Elevation has all to do the trail’s surface, this one being rocky shale. Up we went anyway. It was good for the adrenaline especially when combined with thoughts of the possibility of insufficient water and rescue helicopters. 

The trail wrapped around the mountain as promised and right on schedule we saw the view of La Quinta again.

We were back in the parking lot in reasonable time for lunch at Stuft Pizza. Total time: a reasonable 2hrs 40 minutes including lost time.