Here are the stats:
- Distance: 4.85 km / 3.01 mi
- Moving Time: 44:56
- Elevation: 245 metres / 803 feet
- Temperature: 34.44° C / 94° F
- Humidity: 28%
Directions to the Trailhead – Right behind Desert Crossing Shopping Center (and next to the Palm Desert R/C Raceway)
This is an old favorite from our Palm Desert days – really close to the house and short enough to run in a lunch hour (weather cooperating of course) but brutal enough to make the workout count.
My loop is really a tale of two trails – from the start next to the r/c track you can go left or right. If you go left, you better be in really good climbing shape because it gets really steep really quick for a really long time. It’s truly a challenge. If you go right, however, it’s much more manageable and pleasant. It’s some singletrack to the top of the hill behind the track, singletrack descending into the adjacent valley, then a fire road climb to the top.
For this run, Clare and I went right. We started at about 9:50 am so it was warm but not terrible. It’s about as late as you want to start for a July run in the desert. As is standard with any desert run, I take the Camelbak Ratchet loaded with a full 3 liters of water, some ice and a Decathlon electrolyte tablet. Honestly you never know and you really, really, really don’t want to run out of water – even if this is one of the less extreme runs around.
Here’s the view from about halfway up the fire road section looking back towards the start of the run. You can see where the singletrack runs to the top of the hill – that’s the “pass” you first cross over after climbing out the first part of the run.
