2013 - Never Ending Canyon Loop

The blog is a great way to apologize to all the hikers for my efforts at leading a group.  Instead of saying we are going on a hike I should just say we are going on an adventure.  

I started off having difficulty identifying the trail head from the road.  The funny part was this guy pulls alongside in his vehicle and asked me where we were going and then told me he wrote the book about hikes.    So Philip Ferranti told us it was just up a short distance on the left.

This is the start of the hike and we quickly headed in the wrong direction and we also lost two people at the back when we went up the wrong canyon.  Two of us went back for them and then the remainder hiked ahead into a blind canyon...  

I found the tracks of the two hikers and as I followed them I realized we were on the right trail.  It just so happened that Phillip Ferranti showed up at that time.  He said he was checking out how the trail had eroded over the last two years.  I suspect he was curious as to how messed up this group could get.  He wasn't disappointed on either reason.  

Phillip went on ahead for us and we headed back to get the rest of the group and just as I had figured they were on the way up toward us. (About 6 years ago a hike leader had taken us up the same blind canyon)

As we started following behind the two hikers we had an opportunity to take pictures of this Mecca Aster.

This picture was taken near the top of the ridge if you look down about two or three ridges you will see the area where we were supposed to go to the right.  We had met up with our two wayward hikers below this point and they said they were headed back to the car.  You can see the Salton Sea in the background.  

At least these two hikers were happy to be out on an adventure. (Not the same ones that got separated from the group)

The group happy to be heading back to the cars.  I spent my time on the way back identifying way-points  to avoid a repeat of today's hike.

First time I ever saw a mushroom in the desert.  It appears it was growing under a bush that is now dead.  The mushroom was in a very petrified state.

You can just hear what the dog is saying "hurry up there's more water in the car!"

I climbed a short ridge to take this picture down on the hikers.  End of the adventure.  I wonder if many will sign up for the next hike/adventure.