Idyllwild Revisited

We had the need to get some of that cool mountain air this past week, so packed Blue and headed for Idyllwild for a two night car camp.  Idyllwild is a small community on the side of Mt. San Jacinto and is a two hour drive northeast from Carlsbad.

We camped at Idyllwild County Park, which was mostly empty, but walk-able to town.  We slept in Blue.

 Wednesday afternoon we hiked from the campground up to Suicide Rock.  We thought this was a colorful shelf fungi.

 We passed a few Spiny Granite Lizards on the way.

 This fellow had a brilliant throat patch.

 Idyllwild's iconic Lily Rock.

 Have you hugged a tree today?

 On top of  Suicide Rock.

 Looking across the canyon at Lily Rock.  You get a bit of Sierra feel on this mountain.

We practiced  Donald Trump faces, as the second debate was scheduled to begin in a couple hours.

Manzanita in the late afternoon.

We walked down the trail and into town for some great pizza and refreshments.

Thursday morning we headed up the Devil's Slide Trail, passing under Lily Rock.

 That is Suicide Rock where we hiked to the day before.  There must be a story behind that name!

 There were flocks of Western Blue Birds as we approached Saddle Junction.

 This is how the trail looks much of the time - you have to watch every step.

 We had lunch with this view at around 8,200 feet.  That's Lily Rock on the right end of that ridge.  In this area we were on the Pacific Crest Trail for a couple miles.

 We watched a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying around as we headed up to Wellman Junction, our turn-around spot.  We had a fairly good workout, gaining about 3,300 feet up to the 9,700 foot level.

 A rare spring still running!

 We passed through a boggy area of ferns.

 A Painted Lady butterfly?

Coming down the mountain in broken shade, Gail came within a couple inches of stepping on this baby Southern Pacific Rattlesnake.  I saw her jump and the snake recoil and hiss in front of me.  A man had just walked towards and past us a minute before without seeing it.

Can you see the rattlesnake in the picture?  My camera is aimed right at it!

 The Milky Way from our campground.

The night sky from our campsite.

Friday, we drove down the mountain to McCall Memorial Park, a closed horse camp, where our Idyllwild Campground ranger said was good hiking.

 At Government Meadow we noticed these big tracks in the mud - mountain lion we think.

 Gail noticed these Indian made morteros as we crossed a dry creek.

 Different terrain, today, as we climbed that ridge on the left.  That's Lily Rock in the far distance.

 Deer were in abundance.

 A baby Granite Spiny Lizard looking oh so cute.

We had lunch in a shaded area of boulders and pines before heading back down and doing the drive home.  And so ended another quick escape out into the natural world.