A Day in the Desert

I’ve been trying to hike at least 3 or 4 times a week. I need the exercise and it’s relaxing. I love to be away from the city, no car sounds, no people, just the lizards and birds and an occasional coyote. I do the same hike each time. It’s the closest trail to my home. The trail starts as a wide dirt road. A little ways up, right after you pass two water storage tanks there’s a narrow trail that rises steeply into the hillside. This is where the workout begins. When I first started hiking I would have to stop several times along the way to catch my breath. I noticed yesterday that I’ve been going all the way up without stopping and without wheezing like a geezer. 

The best part of the hike begins with a little trail that veers off to the left and down. It leads to Eagle Canyon. Hidden in the canyon is a small oasis. I usually hike above and past the oasis. It’s narrow and secluded and I’ve seen evidence of homeless people having camped out in these canyons. 

But today I decided to hike into the oasis. There was no one else there and it was so calm and peaceful. A hummingbird flew in front of my face as if challenging me, then flew away. There were other birds and I disturbed a bunch of quail. There’s no pool of water in this oasis but you can see water seeping from the ground in several places. And each spot that shows the dark stain of water seeping is surrounded by swarms of bees. I guess they need the water for their hives.

After soaking in the calm and serenity for a while I hiked down canyon, something I’d never done here before. The sandy bottom of the canyon was crisscrossed with animal footprints. Coyote, birds, lizards and small prints that I think belong to a rodent. Along the way I saw something odd. It looked like a dozen grapefruits just lying on the side of the canyon. On closer inspection looked like some sort of squash. I looked it up online and it’s called Coyote Melon, it’s part of the gourd family.