Cactus Springs Trail Hike Feb 01, 2009

I decided to go hiking in the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa National Monument this weekend. The trail I went on is called the Cactus Springs Trail. This trail is located in Pinyon Pines, California at an elevation of about 4200'. It winds through the beautiful Santa Rosa Mountains. This area has a mixture of both mountain and desert plants and wildlife. Other then an old dolomite mine at the beginning of the trail, this area has been untouched by man and is truly a wilderness paradise. The terrain is steep and rough plus the trail is poorly marked in places making this a true hiking adventure. You can hike this trail all the way down to the Coachella Valley desert floor over 20 miles away.

I started hiking around 1000 am and the weather was a cool 55 degrees. I took my time soaking up the scenery. I saw a lot of cool things you will see in the video I have embedded in this post . I hiked out about 5-6 miles from the trailhead. Other then a lone man and a couple I stopped to talk to briefly I had the wilderness all to myself.

At the 2.5 mile mark I made it to Horsethief Creek. Horsethief Creek was flowing from the snow melting off the Santa Rosa Mountain. At 4.5 miles from the trailhead I reached the Cactus Spring. However, I was disappointed because the Cactus Spring wasn't flowing. The rest of the hike was flat as the trail wound through a wash on Little Pinyon Flat.

I continued past Cactus Spring to the junction of the Guadelupe Trail which leads all the way down to the city of La Quinta. I continued past the junction for another .5 mile along the Cactus Spring Trail. I stopped for lunch under a Pinyon Pine along the side of a low hill. After eating lunch and making a cup of tea, I decided to head back to the car. I had taken my time on the way out and took a lot of breaks so it took me about 5 hours to get to my turn around point.

I had such a good time I lost track of time leaving me with only about 1.5 hours to make it back to my car before dark after hiking almost 6 miles. I had brought enough equipment with me I could have camped out. But expecting lows in the 40's it definitely would not have been a comfortable one. Besides my wife would have called out search and rescue on me if I pulled a stunt like that.

I jogged along the trail until I got to back to Cactus Spring and traveled at a brisk walk up and down the hills for the rest of the way. I made it back to my car long after the sun had already dipped behind the surrounding mountains and twilight was fast approaching.

This is a great hike and I plan on hiking it again maybe even all the way to the desert floor. Unfortunately this is a Winter and Spring only hike because the temperatures in this area can reach over 100 degrees in the Summer and Fall. So I probably will not make it back to the trail this year. I think I will go back to the area in a couple of weeks but I will be hiking the Sawmill Road Trail to play in the snow atop the Santa Rosa Mountain before it all melts away.