Hiking the Garstin Trail in Palm Springs

So we've been back in Southern California almost two weeks now and haven't done a damn thing - recreationally speaking that is. We've gone for our daily old f$#kers walk around the neighbourhood but that doesn't really amount to much "calory burning-wise" - especially when considering that the daily beer intake continues to rise.

Apparently we're not the only ones though who are putting on a few extra pounds - we bought a couple sling chairs in anticipation of the all the company we're gonna get this winter when Calgary gets its 6 foot snow dump.

Look at the label - 20% WIDER - that would work for most of the folks we see down here...not all mind you...and if Kim Kardashian et al have their way perhaps all the gals will get box car size cabooses. Yowza. We'll need even bigger chairs!!

So today we changed all that and went on a hike: The Garstin Trail which is just south of Palm Springs. This hike is listed as Moderate to Strenous on the web page link below...it was definately strenuous for me...at least the uphill part. Christ!!!..gotta get back in shape for sure.

http://www.hiking-in-ps.com/garstin.php

Anyway we made it to the top and the info on the web page above says it's a 760 foot elevation rise. Seemed more to me though. I was pretty well out of breath on the way up. Maybe all those years of smoking are catching up to me now. I think I'm only going to do downhill hikes from now on.

Here we've just started on the way up - my little sissy car is just at the top right hand corner of the pic. Fantastic house below - huuuuge private yard and great pool. Too bad they can't skinny dip because of all the knobs stopping to take pictures.

Terri waiting for me to catch up.

A shot of Palm Springs.

A shot of the surrounding hills. Those are water tanks in the bottom RH side. I think what they do is pump water up to the tanks and then gravity feeds all the houses below. Just a guess though.

We're pretty close to the summit and will be going back down soon. Yippeeee. The green in the distance will be one of the other desert cities..not sure which it is though.

The house in the centre that looks like a UFO is (or was) Bob Hope's house. It's for sale for around 34 million.

Here's a link to a real estate page in case you want to make an offer. The estimated monthly mortgage payment is only $126,942.00

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2466-Southridge-Dr-Palm-Springs-CA-92264/18029489_zpid/

A closer shot.

Another shot showing all the neighbouring houses and how small they look compared to Old Bob's house. I wonder if he ever had them over for a Bar-B-Q

On the way down we also see another cool house - probably not worth anyway near 34 million I'll bet. Great spot though - right by the flood ditch.

Last shot showing what a little water and fertilizer can do. The golf course in the distance used to look just like the desert in the foreground. Not sure what's going to happen here when the water runs out.