Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Part 3)

(GPS: N33 34.425 W116 46.970)

Continuing along the trail, it got easy at this point.After a split in the trail that is supposed to take you to a spring which I did not go far enough to see, I continued up the final part of the trail as it started to elevate.The summit box to write my signature.The views were blocked by trees in some of the directions. Another reason this did not feel like a mountain climb, but I did get to see some of the main areas I was after.
looking down to the southeast.
Zooming in. We drove by this earlier in the morning to get to the trailhead.We shall be near there in #33 of this series.

This ends the mountain hike. While not a major one, it was a good relaxing one that I enjoyed doing.

Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Youtube Version)

The background music for this one is called Lightless Dawn from Incompetech.com.

Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Part 2)

Continuing from where I left off in the last blog, this is looking toward the east. All the roads you see were what we came up on. The road in the middle of the picture that runs from the south to the north is the one we took from the highway.This is looking back at where I had come from.

It is not too long after the above picture that the hike started to flaten out for a while. Again, this was not a major elevation hike, but it did have some uphill. It started to get a little more foresty here.

This came across as an odd site as we went through.

Speaking of odd, I thought this was so odd that I thought these types of manzanita trees had what looked like a "rubber" outside layer to them. That was my first impression of them. The outer layer of the wood had a dark red/brown look to them in such a way that they stood out as if they had just been painted. The picture does not really give you the impressions we had at the time, but it did stand out for us as we went by them.

As we continued through this area, the hike was getting easier. In the distance of the following picture you can see my brother as a small dot on the left. Originally, I thought the hike would end by climbing up to the summit just to the left of him.

That turned out not to be the case. We tried that route, but we quickly realized that was not the way. So, we got back on the path where you see him standing and continued in that direction.

I finish this one up tomorrow.

Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Youtube Version)

Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Part 1)

(GPS: N33 35.785 W116 46.830)

In the next flew blogs I will be covering my hike up Cahuilla Mountain. The hike to Juan Diego's home and murder did not take that long. After coming back to the trailhead, I knew I had more than enough time to follow the trail to the top of Mt. Cahuilla. The elevation gain was not that dramatic. I'm talking of just about a 1000+ feet of elevation from the trailhead. When one thinks of a mountain hike this is usually not what they are thinking. It is listed on the Hundred Peaks Section Peak List, so take that for what it is worth.

I just enjoyed it since it was in an area I had never been to, and it was relaxing all the same. The downside was the day was very overcast to give it that gloomy look. As I stated in the last blog, this was probably for the better since it added the mood to what I was trying to portray regarding the death of Juan Diego. Still, it would have been nice to have had the sun out.

I am presenting this as part of the Ramona series because it connects episode #31 with #33 that will come after this hike. It gives you more understanding of the terrain that Juan Diego and his wife lived at. Other than that, it was just a fun hike. So, take it whatever way you want.

Back to the trailhead...in the previous entries on the Juan Diego home and murder, the hike continues off to the right. This time I would be heading up the mountain to the left of the sign.

After getting some elevation I looked back at the road I had gone on in the previous entries. I was on both roads you see, but to get to where I was last time you head down the road that looks like an "s".That is Mt. San Jacinto which I covered sometime back for this series. So, that is where the fictional story took place, but the historical mountain that the incident the Ramona story was based on was this one.This is looking into the direction that I had been at earlier. It is close to where I ended up in the previous entries at Juan Diego Flats.
Looking back to the cars at the trailhead. Mt. San Jacinto is in the distance.This begins the long part of the trail where you can see far out in front of you.It goes around like this and just keeps going. Nothing too difficult though, it just takes the time to do it.I will continue this one next time.

Ramona Epic #32: Cahuilla Mountain (Youtube Version)