On Saturday, January 4th, fourteen wilderness volunteer rangers hiked together in Palm Canyon for our annual ranger hike. The majority of us had not been on this trail before so we were thrilled to discover a new trail full of beautiful scenery.
This is where we began our 7 1/2 mile loop.
It didn’t take long for the trail to start rolling up and down. Hikers share this trail with serious mountain bikers. Although we encountered numerous groups of bikers in the beginning of our hike, the majority of the time we were by ourselves. If you take the full 16- mile Palm Canyon trail, it leads to the largest palm oasis in North America.
Here is a group of us surrounded by giant yucca. We went through a variety of habitats. At the higher elevation, the hillsides were dominated by pinyon-pine and juniper trees. As we descended, we encountered a variety of cacti, white-sage and other chaparral plants.
Since I was searching for birds, I was lagging in the back of our group. There were a couple of really great bird discoveries. While we were hiking through the dominant pinyon-pine and juniper tree area, we saw and heard a flock of Pinyon Jays. These birds are quite social. They travel and forage in flocks throughout the year. They prefer pinyon-pine seeds when they are available so this canyon is a great place for them. The above photo was taken at an earlier time in Garner Valley.
Another bird that was heard but not seen was a cactus wren. They are associated with the desert. We heard this bird while eating our lunch in a desert wash before hiking back up the mountain. This photo was taken at Anza-Borrego Desert in the Fall. They build their nests in desert vegetation protected by spines such as cholla.
You may want to consider taking a break from the snowy mountains and hike on a lower elevation trail in the winter before the temperatures rise. We are fortunate to have such a diversity of habitat and species living in the San Jacinto Mountains. We all had a great time and we hope to see you next year on our special yearly hike!