that's new

for the first time after returning from a vacation in palm springs, i find that i miss the desert.

i spent a week of my 3 week vacation at my parents' house in palm springs, as i so often do during my vacation time. this time, though, was quite different. most other times i find myself bored to death with nothing to do but read, watch TV, or play video games. this time, I did a little reading and watched "pirates of the carribbean", but the majority of my visit was devoted to four day hikes.

i grew up there, went to school there, i was in the boy scouts and did a fair amount of hiking and camping there, and yet only now have i realized that the coachella valley is a paradise for hikers.

yes, it's hot. very very hot. it turns out that i like it that way. they say that the desert hiking season begins in october. balderdash. september was fantastic (once i figured out the required amount of water).

one of the hikes i took ended up quite literally in my parents front yard, with a side-trip through some foothills, oases, rocky canyons, and sandy peaks. the trails there are poorly mapped and poorly maintained, but they're very old and established, and windy and branchy and extensive. from the first trailhead i found, i went on two separate day hikes and found trailheads for at least five more day hikes. and that was just around my neighborhood.

that's the thing that really excited me: we hiked and camped in the scouts, but it was always an hour or two away up in the mountains. the hiking i did last week was all in the desert. hot, sunny, hot, dry, desolate, scenic, hot, and all within 30 minutes of my folks' house. and i only scratched the surface. there's a bucketload more hikes to do.

i always knew that being active outdoors would make the desert more bearable, but it was not until recently that i found an outdoors activity that i could enjoy (almost) daily.

being outdoors doesn't require hiking, either. driving to work today with the window down i was chilled. three days ago i could drive around with the window down and sweat. i miss that. i love the bay area, its people, its food and its opportunities, but i find myself missing the sweaty desert for the first time in my memory.

i discovered a fascinating, not-so-hidden world in the place of my childhood and had to leave it mostly unexplored to return to my corporate duties. i feel like i left a job half-done, having hoke only four of the hundreds of hikes waiting for me.

plus, i hiked the first 4000 feet of the cactus to clouds and i intend to go back to do the rest before it gets too cold.

heh. "duties".