Hiking to the Bottom of the Ocean

My view of the Coyote Mountains may be one of my all time favorites, and I love hiking in them, but this was the first time I've actually hiked up the mountains.

I knew going in this was a bit of a stretch for me- I tend to be one of those people who needs to slowly adjust to altitude, and I haven't been hiking much in the last year or so.  But I'd never done the famous hike to the bottom of the ocean before and the first day of Spring seemed like a good time to give it a try. I admit, by the time I got back down to the car my legs were pretty tired, but I wasn't nearly as wiped as I had expected to be- and the day after I was still capable of walking, so that seems like a win to me!

Unbeatable view of Imperial Valley

Trace fossils from when this was the bottom of the ocean

 When I'm out hiking, I always try to read up on some of the geology of the area I'll be in and while I almost never remember more than 1% of what I read before any given hike, even that little bit of information I manage to retain increases my appreciation for what I see along the way.   Hiking up the Coyote Mountains, for instance, you are going back 4-10 million years in time, and if you look (one of my excuses for always being slow) you can find amazing evidence remaining that 10 million years ago this entire part of California was a part of the ocean.  When kids come to the museum asking what dinosaurs we had here, we talk about whales, sharks, coral, and oysters.


The entire hike I marveled at the views: the rocks around me, the trace fossils of so many different shells, the fresh scat as evidence that bighorn sheep had recently passed this way- not to mention the breathtaking view of the valley when I turned and looked behind me.  It was a great reminder of why it is so important to get outside some days.  I was not only enjoying nature on a lovely first day of spring (and feeling sorry for my friends and family on the East Coast dealing with their fourth nor'easter in two weeks) but renewing my enthusiasm for the incredible history and geology of the area, and why I encourage visitors to the museum to go take a hike!