Sheep Hole Dry Lake

 I broke an important rule of hiking. Maybe the most important rule: Once you tell someone where you are going to hike, stick to the plan! If you don't stick to the plan, how can someone find you if you have a problem or injury?

I had my solo hike all planned out with the route on my GPS phone app. My wife had a screenshot of my hike and knew exactly where I would be. However, driving east on Highway 62, I had a jaw-dropping moment: As I drove past the Sheephole Mountains, I saw this incredible carpet of yellow flowers stretching off into the horizon seemingly forever (above photo)! I've driven this way many, many times and never seen anything like it, and figured it must be due to the recent rain in the area.

 

Continuing on, I parked at the Wilderness sign off Highway 62.

 

I crossed the highway and started my planned hike (the one my wife had a copy of), heading south along the back side (east-facing side) of the Coxcomb Mountains. But those darn yellow flowers wouldn't stop nagging at me, and I felt like I was missing a huge opportunity by not going back to the yellow carpet of flowers I'd seen on the drive out. On impulse, I turned and started hiking back to the car with the intention of changing the plan. Cue the dun-dun-duuuun! sound effect. That's mistake #1.

 

By the time I hiked back to the car and drove back to the yellow flowers, I had used up over an hour. I had about 3-4 hours of daylight left. My new plan (known only to me) was to make a quick hike out to the dry lake (the light colored area below the mountains in the photo above). It looks pretty close, right? I estimated about a mile or so (one way) of easy level hiking. Plenty of time. Again with the dun-dun-duuuuun! That was mistake #2.

 

If you remember nothing else from this post, remember this: Distances are deceiving. That's especially true in the desert. Of course, I knew that, but my brain didn't seem to be working on this particular day. Instead of leisurely hiking 2 miles round trip over a couple hours with plenty of time for photography, I ended up hiking 6.8 miles out and back to the dry lake, which took me 4 hours and 10 minutes. What appeared to be a flat, level hike was anything but. Critter burrows were everywhere. For every 10 steps I took, one foot would abruptly drop down into a burrow and throw me off balance, which made the hiking slow and difficult. I crossed multiple washes. There was a surprising amount of elevation loss to the dry lake, which means I would be hiking uphill on the way back to my car.

 

But the good news? Oh, what a wonderful hike! The flowers!! The sunset!!! The absolute solitude made it a hike I won't soon forget. Did I mention the flowers?

 

This caterpillar will develop into a hummingbird moth.

 

Just gorgeous. The yellow clumps of flowers (I believe they are called Cinchweed) reflecting the late afternoon light, with the Sheephole Mountains in the background. I did my best not to step on flowers. I'm sure it added extra miles to my hike as I zigzagged toward the dry lake like a drunken sailor.

 

The desert turned yellow (or perhaps yellow-orange, depending upon the light)! Sharing this one to show how extensive the Cinchweed bloom was on this day. This is looking S/SW, towards Clark's Pass. This entire area was covered!
 

Are we there yet??! It's taking much longer than I thought it would!

Looks like an old tobacco tin (Prince Albert?) next to a Cinchweed plant.

 

Finally!!! I make it to the dry lake. It would be amazing to see this after a heavy rain!

 

The sense of openness, solitude, and absolute quite are incredible!

 

Time to take off the pack, have a snack, drink some water and take a selfie!

 

This is called "parametric properties" in PhotoShop. I call it "having fun on the lake bed!"

 

Hiking is slow in the open desert, where you have to pick your way around cacti and creosote. It was 4:40pm and the sun was setting as I left the lake bed. It was 3.5 miles back to the car and I had about 30 minutes or so of twilight left. After that, it would be dark. It was painfully obvious I would be hiking the last couple miles in the dark. Thankfully I had a fully-charged headlamp in my pack and a GPS route to follow on my phone.

 

I'll finish up this post next week with some beautiful desert skies as seen on my hike back to the car.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this adventure with me!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.