Pacific Crest Trail to Eagle Rock

 

As the temperatures continue to rise here in the Borrego Springs area, we are fortunate to be 20-30 miles from much higher ground, where we can get some relief from the heat. On Monday we drove to Warner Springs, CA, elevation 3,100’ where we parked next to the fire station to access the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail.  Although we only hiked a little over three miles, the trail took us to a very unique rock formation, and a good turn-around point.

The first half of the trail follows San Ysidro Creek, which actually had water running through it. This riparian area full of coastal live oak trees is a shady refuge from the sun and wind. It was quite a change from the desert hikes we’ve been doing lately.

The signage was a bit confusing, but if you do trespass like we did, please be sure to close the gate.

The oaks are just massive.

Not much wildlife but we did see a prairie dog.

After the forest we came out into the open grasslands where it was quite windy.

Since this is the only grouping of rocks we could see, we figured it had to be our destination.

Eagle rock, aptly named.

And quite an impressive natural rock sculpture.

View through the eagle’s shoulder while standing on its back.

This is a pleasant, fairly easy trail, 6.5 miles out and back with about 800’ of elevation change. Thanks to Bayfield Bunch Al for mentioning this hike on his blog last week, as it gave us the idea to go. And if you crave an ice cream cone after the hike, don’t bother driving another mile into Warner Springs. It’s such a small town they don’t even have a gas station/convenience store. And we sadly discovered the only ice cream shop in Borrego Springs is closed on Mondays.