Trip Report/Trail Guide – 11/29/2019
This was my first trip to the Mission Creek Preserve, which is adjacent to the Whitewater Canyon Preserve. Parking is about 1.5 miles up a good dirt road, Mission Creek Rd. When I arrived, I saw two hikers who had just returned to their vehicle. For most of the hike, I was completely alone. Passing the gate, the first mile of the hike runs mostly parallel to Mission Creek along Mission Creek Road.
At the first mile, I reached the stone house, an abandoned cabin that has been rehabilitated by the Wildlands Conservancy. Immediately following the stone house is a junction between Mission Creek Road and a spur route to the Pacific Crest Trail. After this junction, the distance to the PCT is about two miles. The first point of interest I visited on the spur trail was a desert wetland area, replete with live oaks, desert willows, and wild grapevines.
As the trail continues up through a tributary wash to Mission Creek, the canyon walls open up to a grand view of the San Gorgonio high country. The snowline here seemed tantalizingly close, but it was still several trail miles away, and several more hundred feet in elevation above. At the junction of the PCT, the Whitewater Preserve is six and a half miles on the southbound route to the left. I took the fork to the right, the northbound PCT, which snakes it’s way up to the top of gently sloping bench. Here the views were expansive and panoramic, with seemingly every mountain in sight attired in a silvery, snowy gown.
The PCT follows this bench for approximate a mile and a half to an elevation of 3700 feet. It was here where I saw my first patches of snow. Satisfied that I had accomplished what I had set out to do, I continued down the PCT as it descended back down into Mission Creek Canyon. Here I met back up with Mission Creek Road, which returns back to the stone cabins. Beer in hand, a picnic bench seemed to invite me to rest my weary feet. As I approached, a sign sternly warns approaching hikers that they are crossing onto private property. I continued past the sign, perhaps in spite of my better judgment, but there were no signs of humans or human habitation. Continuing down the road, I ventured through an unusually dense stand of deciduous oak woodland.
As I criss-cross the creek, nightfall was upon me. I snapped one last photo of a lone palm tree posing against the sunset, satisfied with my adventure.
Total distance, 12 miles; elevation gain, 1600 feet; total duration, 6 hours
The Trail Less Traveled 