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| Hiking | 4.42 Miles |
650 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.42 Miles | 2 Hrs 4 Mns | | 2.29 mph |
| 650 ft AEG | 8 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | After finishing off Warren Peak we took a right hand turn as we headed north in Black Rock Canyon. The Panorama Trail was also a wide sandy path from this direction. It seems a bit of a valley that you slowly make your way up in elevation. Once again there were some nice tree specimens here and there. A big beautiful, partially fallen, Joshua Tree was almost in the middle of the trail. Its trunk was huge. And when you went around the other side, you could shoot San Gorgonio through the branches so I took way too many pictures of that. When shooting the pictures, the background seemed blown out but fortunately, on the computer, the pictures turned out quite well.
We continued the gradual ascent keeping an eye on our surroundings including some flowers like Fiddleneck, Scale Bud and others. A little bit further was a small grove of Pinon Trees and from there, we were quite near the first saddle. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the clouds had started putting on a show since Warren Peak so that made for an even more scenic hike. It was at the saddle that the overcast sky was trying to take over. It was pretty windy. The trail heads south and up a little further. We came to a peak, Kelly bagged it before she knew THAT was 5195. I told her HAZel had announced it. She bagged both of the little peaks up there and seemed to feel so much better 
From here you head a little further east before the trail takes you somewhat steeply down, but does have nice switchbacks. I decided that this loop should be done clockwise as the views coming west down the valley are easier to enjoy rather than having to look back. However, there were still decent views to our north and west. The flora through here was very nice as well including some more great Joshua Tree specimens.
It was good to reach the desert floor. The area would narrow pretty significantly as well so we got to see some more of the Pinto Gneiss rockery that once again seemed a scrambled mess. There was some more flora including Poppies, Bajada Lupine, Spotted? Milkvetch, Hedgehog Cactus, Scale Bud and Fiddleneck as well as plants GL can't identify. You eventually exit the narrow part and hook up with Black Rock Canyon again for your journey out. There was still plenty to see, even with the overcast sky which kept the temps so nice but detracted from the color of the landscape.
We found a Mexican restaurant for dinner and had hoped to get a shower at Coyote Corner but you can't get them there anymore so we headed home after fueling up Tonto 3. It took us a little less than an hour to arrive back at our Cottonwood Springs campground. Our evening was topped off with an endless sunset; it just kept giving  . I took too many pictures but the colors were brilliant; just like our time here. And the nite sky threw some photo ops our way as well.
If you'd like to see more from our wonderFULL hike:
Part 1 heading up [ youtube video ]
Part 2 heading down and our great, seemingly never-ending, sunset [ youtube video ]
Warren/Panorama Loop total stats:
HAZel 5 hrs. 63 min breaks (2.06MPH), 8.17 miles, 1803 AEG (1145 gain)
WATCH 5 hrs., 8.08 miles, 4102-5338 elevation. 124 avg bpm/163 max burning 1829 calories. Starting temp 62.5 cloudy and 26% humidity |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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