Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

High Desert Weekend Trip-log #9
Hagen Canyon, CA - Sun, 27 Mar, 2002. 12pm

Red Rock Canyon State Park, like I said in my previous blog, is not big. And the Hagen Canyon Nature Trail we're hiking is not big. The official length is only about 1.5 miles. But distances in the desert have a way of being bigger than they seem on a map. One, you can go off the marked trail and explore— if you know what you're doing. Two, even short distances can turn into lengthy explorations, given the challenge of the terrain. After walking to the back of the distance of the Hagen Canyon loop we decided to do some of that off-trail exploration.



It can be hard to think of this as "off" trail exploration. There basically is a trail beneath our feet. It's a drainage. In a major drainage route like this, the bottom tends to be well scoured flat. Sometimes there are deadfalls in drainages. One of the safer things about going up a drainage is that if we encounter a deadfall we can't get over, we just turn around. It's not like were stuck going the long way around.



The main drainage led up through a narrows to a hidden canyon. Two branches of drainages joined from left and right in a T shape. We turned left as it was the bigger and more interesting side of the canyon.



What really struck us in this less-traveled area of park was its otherworldly look. It felt like we could be on the surface of the moon or Mars... except for that blue sky in the distance.



We climbed to the back of the hidden canyon. We weren't sure what we'd see beyond it. Fortunately for our time budget, what we saw was dull looking. So we lateraled over to the top of the butte we saw at the back of the main canyon. There were a few false summits getting to the top but nothing too bad. The view from the top, though, wasn't too interesting. That's often the case with this red rocks/badlands terrain— the best views are straight on at the exposed rock, where the beauty is exposed. From above the beauty can be hidden.

We looped back to T junction and tired the other side of the hidden canyon. It ended quickly. We tried going down a different drainage to the main canyon but hit one of those deadfalls I mentioned. It was a drop of about 15' vertical with no way to climb down without expert skill. We doubled back to look for alternate routes.



Hawk went around to the main drainage while I did find a side drainage I could scramble down. My route was shorter, so waited behind a spire on the wall of the canyon for Hawk to come through. Then I gobbled like a turkey, loudly, to let her know I successfully ambushed her. It's an in-joke of ours. She knew she'd been caught.

Once back at the trail we completed the loop back out to the parking lot. By this point the marked loop felt dull. We'd had the real adventure, finding our own routes through desert martian landscape. In beauty we walk.

High Desert Weekend Trip-log #7
Palmdale, CA - Sun, 27 Mar, 2002. 8am

Years ago Hawk and I coined the term "motel camping". It has been an in-joke between us. "Are you thinking we'll go camping on this weekend trip?" one of us, usually Hawk, would ask the other. "I'm thinking 'motel camping'," the other, often I, would reply.

The euphemism was more tongue-in-cheek when we were younger. Camping, actual in-a-tent camping, was something we did more often. As we've grown older our backs aren't as happy about sleeping with only a few layers between us and the ground. Plus, we're better off financially now than we were in our 20s. Sleeping on a bed when we travel not only makes a big difference, it's a luxury we can afford.



Speaking of luxury, the hotel we've been staying at in Palmdale isn't exactly luxury. To be fair, it's a Holiday Inn. I didn't expect luxury; just serviceable comfort. Especially here in the Antelope Valley an hour northeast of Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Mojave Desert. Here even upper middle class seems 1%-ish.

The hotel definitely has a bed. A fairly nice one, too. Just not luxury. 😅

Though they did pull out the stops for us. They upgraded us to a suite.



That means in addition to the separate (small) sleeping room shown in the first picture, we had the large sitting area shown above. I got the complimentary upgrade because I'm a platinum elite with IHG. Last year IHG was (surprisingly) my go-to hotel chain.

I certainly appreciated the upgrade this time. The sofa was a great place to sit when I was relaxing yesterday evening. We haven't used the desk at all on this stay, but the extra space for doing work is a thing we always appreciate as Hawk often has to do a few hours of work on these weekend trips. Oh, and the suite has a balcony....



The view from the balcony, one of exurbs-meet-desert, isn't one to write home about. Though I guess it is a better view than the view out the window at the previous suite upgrade I caught at a Holiday Inn Express off the Las Vegas Strip. Even so, while I didn't spend time gazing at this view I did enjoy having a sliding glass door to open for fresh desert air last night and again this morning.

Motel camping is definitely the way to camp. 🤣