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I have been driving along the 138 near Pearblossom many times. I've seen the sign many times and I have had people tell me about it several times. But, actually going to the Devil's Punchbowl was way better than I ever expected!
FishPOET, our friend Margaret, and Sharon and I met at the county park's parking lot. We started by walking the 1 mile loop trail inside the Punchbowl. The rock formations are cool and I'm betting that they are related to the Mormon Rocks in the Cajon Pass:
But this place is way better than the Mormon rocks or other formations like Vasquez Rocks because it has WATER!:
There are many great views and I have only focused on a few. After we hiked back up to the entrance, we had lunch under the pinon pines at the nice picnic area.
Afterwards, we went into the Visitor's Center and found many cool critters to view. They had three Rosy Boas, two Mojave Rattlers, two Speckled Rattlers, a California King Snake, and several other snakes. They had a Hairy Desert Scorpion that was probably 4 or 5 inches long, and a variety of other desert creatures.
But the best was Ruth!:
Ruth is a Barn Owl that has been raised by the Rangers for 11 years. She is very friendly and is calm in most cases except for fuzzy microphone covers and small dogs.
The rangers at the park are amazingly friendly and helpful. When we looked around the rest of the Visitor's Center, I found a map of 12 rock arches that are in the park. When I asked one of the Rangers about where they were, she gave me directions that led us off of the official trail.
That's not a typo. The ranger said "You have to leave the trail....". Really. I was stunned too.
The area that the arches are in is probably the coolest part of the park. But I am willing to explore some more to make sure.
After we followed the directions, we found that the trail was fairly faint:
On the way, we saw a glider sailing on the winds overhead:
It wasn't long before we sighted our first arch:
It was way up on the ridge of the rock and no easy way to it presented itself. But a little further forward, we found the Interchange Arch. This is the largest arch in the park at 28 feet of open space across:
It was quite a steep climb to get up to the arch. Looking further up, we thought that we could climb to the top of the ridge:
It was further and steeper than I thought! About halfway up we paused and I got some cool views on camera:
At the top of the ridge, there are some great views. There are several ridges beyond the one we scrambled up. I zoomed in on this really cool arch at the top of a very high ridge:
The area is just filled with great views. Here are a couple of my favorites...
Looking North towards the high desert:
Looking south towards the San Gabriel Mtns:
After we got back down from the ridge, we worked our way over to a separate outcropping that had several arches. The best one is Buckshot Arch. It is small but it has multiple arches close together:
On the way back, we saw another glider but this time it was still under tow:
It never released, we are assuming the the rough winds kept them from freeing the glider.
This is a great park! I highly recommend that you try to make time to visit the area. You can't beat the price of admission: FREE.
If you are planning a trip and would like some company, let me know. I'm looking forward to my next trip to the park.
As an epilogue, we took the road up over the mountain to Wrightwood to get home. At the very base of the road, we found this very cool old stone house ruin:
The architecture was impressive. I wish I knew more about this place.
The drive up over the mountains was nice and refreshing. We dropped back down Lone Pine Canyon to the 138 and then headed to Silverwood Grill for sushi. This was a great day! I wish every day was this fun!
If you think that you might want to do some hiking, the Devil's Punchbowl has a lot to offer. If you are in the area and have some time to kill, this is the place to do it. In a nutshell, make an excuse to go to the Devil's Punchbowl!
FishPOET, our friend Margaret, and Sharon and I met at the county park's parking lot. We started by walking the 1 mile loop trail inside the Punchbowl. The rock formations are cool and I'm betting that they are related to the Mormon Rocks in the Cajon Pass:
But this place is way better than the Mormon rocks or other formations like Vasquez Rocks because it has WATER!:
There are many great views and I have only focused on a few. After we hiked back up to the entrance, we had lunch under the pinon pines at the nice picnic area.
Afterwards, we went into the Visitor's Center and found many cool critters to view. They had three Rosy Boas, two Mojave Rattlers, two Speckled Rattlers, a California King Snake, and several other snakes. They had a Hairy Desert Scorpion that was probably 4 or 5 inches long, and a variety of other desert creatures.
But the best was Ruth!:
Ruth is a Barn Owl that has been raised by the Rangers for 11 years. She is very friendly and is calm in most cases except for fuzzy microphone covers and small dogs.
The rangers at the park are amazingly friendly and helpful. When we looked around the rest of the Visitor's Center, I found a map of 12 rock arches that are in the park. When I asked one of the Rangers about where they were, she gave me directions that led us off of the official trail.
That's not a typo. The ranger said "You have to leave the trail....". Really. I was stunned too.
The area that the arches are in is probably the coolest part of the park. But I am willing to explore some more to make sure.
After we followed the directions, we found that the trail was fairly faint:
On the way, we saw a glider sailing on the winds overhead:
It wasn't long before we sighted our first arch:
It was way up on the ridge of the rock and no easy way to it presented itself. But a little further forward, we found the Interchange Arch. This is the largest arch in the park at 28 feet of open space across:
It was quite a steep climb to get up to the arch. Looking further up, we thought that we could climb to the top of the ridge:
It was further and steeper than I thought! About halfway up we paused and I got some cool views on camera:
At the top of the ridge, there are some great views. There are several ridges beyond the one we scrambled up. I zoomed in on this really cool arch at the top of a very high ridge:
The area is just filled with great views. Here are a couple of my favorites...
Looking North towards the high desert:
Looking south towards the San Gabriel Mtns:
After we got back down from the ridge, we worked our way over to a separate outcropping that had several arches. The best one is Buckshot Arch. It is small but it has multiple arches close together:
On the way back, we saw another glider but this time it was still under tow:
It never released, we are assuming the the rough winds kept them from freeing the glider.
This is a great park! I highly recommend that you try to make time to visit the area. You can't beat the price of admission: FREE.
If you are planning a trip and would like some company, let me know. I'm looking forward to my next trip to the park.
As an epilogue, we took the road up over the mountain to Wrightwood to get home. At the very base of the road, we found this very cool old stone house ruin:
The architecture was impressive. I wish I knew more about this place.
The drive up over the mountains was nice and refreshing. We dropped back down Lone Pine Canyon to the 138 and then headed to Silverwood Grill for sushi. This was a great day! I wish every day was this fun!
If you think that you might want to do some hiking, the Devil's Punchbowl has a lot to offer. If you are in the area and have some time to kill, this is the place to do it. In a nutshell, make an excuse to go to the Devil's Punchbowl!
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