In The Wide Open Spaces at Pleasant Valley

We drove down the Geo Trail the other day, parked at the Pleasant Valley Back Country Board and took a leisurely walk out in to the valley which is an ancient lake bed. You can just imagine what it was like when there was more rainfall in the past. In fact, Bill Keys used to drive down there to harvest grasses for his cattle at the Keys Ranch. That was then, now it's pretty dry with some native grasses here and there with a forest of Joshua Trees on the plateau. There was quite a bit of mining here as well, the old Hexahedron and El Dorado mines are in the hills above the basin. On our walk we passed and old dig site which has a nice view of the valley from above. Later, we wandered out to the Joshua Trees to find some shade for our lunch and then headed back to the car. This is a really nice winter hike with some wonderful open spaces, try it some time.