WHITEWATER PRESERVE

Whitewater Preserve is located just 20 miles northwest of Palm Springs. The town of Whitewater itself is directly north of the 10 Freeway with the preserve starting a couple of miles north of it. We started our hike at the end of Whitewater Canyon Road at the parking area. Since the lot was full, we had to park along the road that leads to the hike start point. This trail intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail.

The start of our hike was at 2,000 feet above sea level. This area has a terrific stream that crossed our path several times along the way. Eventually we reached the start of our ascent to climb up several switchbacks to reach the summit of 2,800 feet above sea level. It was quite windy at times along the ridge -- so much so that we almost lost our hats due to strong gusts. The view from here offered clear views of majestic Mount Jacinto -- truly breathtaking and still covered with snow. As we finally began to descend along more switchbacks, the weather started to take a turn for the worse -- a rain storm approaching. Fortunately, we left just in time to narrowly escape the oncoming downpour with only minor sprinkles.

Even though it is not shown in this video, we made our way over to Palm Springs after the hike to enjoy a hearty lunch at the Blue Coyote Grill restaurant that we'd been going to for years. It was a great day and we will definitely return, but we'll be sure not to do this hike in the summer since temperatures often hover between 110-120 F.

MAP - Whitewater Preserve

Blue Coyote Grill

[HuckOutdoors]

Looks like it was a great day to be out there! That's a fun loop.