Off Leash Adventures: A Hike Day Keeps The Doctor Away; Whitewater Preserve CA

We wanted to do a day hike that wasn't to far away, due to other responsibilities we had this weekend, so we picked Whitewater Preserve in Palm Springs, as neither myself or @csusbgeochem1 had been there before.
We did some research on the area and found there are multiple trails there, but you need to arrive early as parking is limited. There is free parking available at the parking area by the Rangers Station, when that's full you have to find a place along the road to park.

There are free leaflets with trail maps in them at the trail head, and a list of distances on this interesting rock:

Along with this quote by John Muir himself:

Happy was excited to start the hike and lead the way:

We followed the trail to the next sign post, only a few feet away:

Now we had to decide which trail to take today. Buddy wanted to do the P.C.T (Pacific Crest Trail) but as this was our second hike of this year, we thought the 3.5 mile trail loop would be better.

We started down the trail, leading through the dried river bed, but there are still pockets of water here creating a little oasis:

and a small stream still flows through here. I thought this little bridge was very cute!

Following the trail still, we found ourselves at this junction. There was a couple coming from this direction and we spoke to them briefly. They informed us that the trail to the left was the loop, leading to the top of the ridge and back down, as this was where they had come from.

They suggested we take this trail as the other direction had already had 2 rattlesnake sightings that morning. I hate snakes, so we went left:

This trail took us to a series of switchbacks leading up to the top of the ridge:

with great views of the canyon below and the trail we had followed:

At the top we stopped to give the dogs a rest and some water. They both lay down in the shade of the shrubs:

They were both having a great time, they love being out and exploring a new place as much as we do. Look at Buddy's smile!

On the ridge you have an amazing view of the surrounding landscape:

The side of the canyon walls reminded me of The Elephant Knees I'd seen at Fish Creek Wash earlier this year. If you look carefully you will see the Rangers Station:

Even I couldn't help but smile when looking around 360 degrees

I mean look at this view, wouldn't you smile to?

After a short break, we started back on the trail over the ridge line and down the other side:

The landscape was broken up by these beautiful bright flowers on the Cacti up here, adding a splash of color in places:

To our surprise, the trail lead us back to the paved road, and not as we had expected (as it's called a loop) to the trail head once more.

We walked along the paved road towards our parking space, and I saw this sign:

right before seeing this rattlesnake!

We let the dogs play in the stream before getting back in the car and driving home. Buddy loves laying in the stream to cool off, while happy walks in it a little, takes a drink and is ready to hike some more.

This really is a beautiful location, and we already spotted our next area to explore when we come back again.

But our time here was now done for the day and we drove home happy with two tired dogs sleeping in the backseat.

Thanks for reading, if you liked my post please remember to upvote it, and follow me so you don't miss out on any future posts!

Till next time.

All photographs were taken by @beckymeep.

!steemitworldmap 33.9877804 lat -116.6578617 long ´Whitewater Preserve, Palm Springs, CA´ D3SCR