Fossil Canyon Hike

Entering Fossil Canyon, in the Coyote Mountains

My last hike of 2012 was the first group hike to use the museum as their start point, and the hike itself was right in our front yard: Fossil Canyon, in the Coyote Mountains.  Any of you paying attention to my pictures will have guessed that the Coyote Mountains are my favorite view and I was excited to do some hiking there.  It was also exciting that among our intrepid group of hikers were my parents.  They came out to see what the museum and the area was like, and were interested to go on the hike with us.

Fossil Canyon, as you might guess, is known for fossils.  I expect most of the major ones have been taken out by geologists, archaeologists, tourists, and rock hounds, but you can still see some of the fossilized shells in the rock that remind you the area used to look quite different. That's one of the fascinating things about the area: as static as it looks you can also see the movement of the rock in the strata and fossilized clues that the area used to be under water.  We did see some shell fossils but the coolest stuff was the formation of the canyon itself.  I am always fascinated by the patterns of rock carved out by wind and rain, maybe because it's not even close to anything I experienced growing up.  When I try to explain to someone that there are no rocks in New Orleans I tend to get a lot of blank looks. When you're in an area like Imperial Valley it is hard to believe that there can be a place where there are no rocks.

Rock formation carved out of wind, water, and probably earthquakes

The hike was lots of fun, an easy walk for beginners and those of us who aren't in great shape. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery.  One of the most exciting moments came when one of our hikers spotted a big horned sheep up on the ridge.  Apparently people can live in the area and never see them, but this one was hanging out watching us.  My little camera couldn't do it justice because of the distance, but if you zoom in on the picture you can actually tell you're looking at a big horned sheep. That was pretty cool.  Another animal checked off my desert bucket list. Now I just need to see (and get a picture of) a roadrunner and get a picture of our local coyote.  I've seen him around, but documentation of the sighting hasn't happened yet. And tracks aren't quite the same as an actual roadrunner.  But I'm going back out in January, so there's still hope!

You have to zoom in to see well, but that's a big horned sheep up there!