California trail heads to ancient fish trap site

Some 500 years ago, Cahuilla Indians constructed fish
traps on what used to be the shores of Ancient Lake Cahuilla.

Fish Traps Trail topo map.
Click map for larger version.

The following article was originally written for and appeared in Uken Report.

Day hikers can explore an ancient fishing site on an extinct lake south of Indio, Calif.

The 1.4-miles round trip Fish Traps Trail rambles past petroglyphs, pottery shards, bedrock mortars, and other artifacts at the Fish Traps Archeological Site. It sits in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.

To reach the site, from Interstate 10

in Indio take Jackson Street south. After passing 64th Avenue, the road curves east and becomes Avenue 

66. The trailhead is at the point of the curve where Jackson Street becomes Avenue 66. Park on the right/south side of the road.

Walk west on the rocks alongside the orchard fence. Upon reaching the fence's end and the foothill's base, go right/north. The terrain will be full of scree, so be careful with your steps.

Ancient Lake Cahuilla
About 500 years ago, this was a shoreline for Ancient Lake Cahuilla. The freshwater lake covered the southern half the Coachella Valley and all of what is now the Salton Sea. Any place in the valley lower than 40 feet above sea level was under water.

The first set of petroglyphs appears in about 200 feet. Etched into the tufa rock - which is calcium carbonate formed by precipitation from warm water - is a spiral shape, a lizard, etch marks, and other forms that look like either birds or palm trees depending on your perspective.

These markings were made by the ancestors of today's Cahuilla Indians. Lake Cahuilla sat at the southern end of their range, which covered about half of Riverside County and stretched across the Mojave Desert north into San Bernardino County.

Continuing along the foothill's base, in about 350 feet is a bedrock mortar and pestle in a small boulder. The mortar is the bowl while the pestle is the rock that fits into a hand next to it. This was used to crush and grind ingredients into powder.

Fish trap technology
About 50 feet beyond that is a fish trap. Rocks were piled in a circle so that when fish swam into them they could be more easily captured.

In other cases, stones on the lake bottom were removed to form pits. This can be spotted in about 1000 feet and then again in 1200 feet. Archeologists believe this site is one of the few places in the world where stone pits were built to trap fish.

With Lake Cahuilla 20 times larger than the present day Salton Sea, there was plenty of freshwater fish to go around. The stone fish traps were so effective that the lake supported at least 20,000 people and perhaps up to 100,000.

A small rocky trail heads up the scree to what once was an ancient campsite. As you ascend, watch for the change in the rock color forming a horizontal line across the scree; this marks the ancient lake's water level.

Pottery sherds, broken animal bones likely used as tools, and the shells of creatures that once lived in the lake also can be found along the way and in the scree. At about 0.7 miles from the trailhead, the artifacts no long appear, so that makes a good turnaround point.

Evaporated lake
When the Colorado River's changed course, Lake Cahuilla was left isolated and as with the Salton Sea today, evaporated. The lake dried up within 70-80 years, and the Fish Traps site was abandoned.

As the tufa is fragile, be careful where you step, and do not touch any of the petroglyphs. The tufa easily can break off, damaging the site or cutting you.

Do not take anything from the site or move about objects. Scratching your own initials into the tufa is considered vandalism so please refrain from doing so.

As the entire site is exposed to the sun, always don sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat. Good hiking boots are recommended, as you'll cross or walk around scree.

Trail heads through Coffee Bean Canyon

Coffee Bean Canyon is so named because the rock walls there tend to be the
color of the coffea plant seed.

Coffee Bean Canyon trail map. Click for larger version.

Day hikers can explore exotic rock formations on the Coffee Bean Canyon Trail in the Mecca Hills.

Up to 10 miles of trails covering 800 feet of elevation gain await in an area often compared to the canyon country of Moab, Utah. Coffee Bean Canyon is not the gulch's official moniker but the nicknamed given by local hikers, as the color of the dark rock walls match that of a coffee bean. It’s an apt name.

To reach the trailhead, take Interstate 10 south toward Indio. Exit south onto Calif. Hwy. 86 then at Thermal onto Airport Boulevard heading right/east. Cross the Coachella Canal and turn right/southeast. At the first dirt road, go straight/southeast (going left/east leads to a quarry). In quick order, you’ll some to a gate. If the gate is open, continue onward, driving about 2 miles.

Badlands terrain
If the gate isn’t open, park off the side of the road. You’ll have to hoof it to the canyon. This unfortunately adds 4 miles round trip to the hike. The dirt road fortunately is not a bad walk in itself, as you're treated to views of the Santa Rosa Mountains, the Salton Sea, the Mecca Hills and across the canal vistas of farmland. It's flat as well, making for an easy stroll.

But it's nothing compared to what's ahead.

The entrance to the lower Coffee Bean Canyon sits to the east side of the canal road. It’s a small, sandy wash that increasingly narrows as gaining elevation.

The Mecca Hills formed thanks to tectonic action. As the Pacific and North American plates slide against one another at the San Andreas Fault, sometimes individual segments of the fault overlap and link together. This creates a “block” of earth between the two plates known as a restraining bend. The plates both slide against the block. The Mecca Hills is one such block, and thanks to the pressure of the two moving plates, is being uplifted and compressed.

Water and wind has carved the raised block of the Mecca Hills into interesting shapes as it erodes the weakest spots of rock. The effect is a Badlands terrain.

Three smaller canyons
The coloration comes from sediments deposited here from about 20.45 million to 2.58 million years ago. Some of the layers were deposited as river sediment when the area was a low-lying plain. Some of the layers are materials deposited in lake beds when almost the entire Coachella Valley was under water. The colors match the different sediments eroded off the nearby higher terrain and carried here.

Watch for a BLM sign in the canyon. Once you pass it, you’ll reach a widening in the canyon. From there, you can explore three small canyons or continue straight southeast to the end of Coffee Bean Canyon. All are narrow and have neat rock wall shapes thanks to erosion. If you take the easternmost of the three small gorges, you can climb out of the upper canyon and enjoy a great view of the Salton Sea.

The hike ought to be done mid-October through mid-April to avoid the heat. Early morning is best to truly enjoy the light show as the sun rises upon the canyon walls.

Carry sunscreen, sunglasses and a sunhat with you in case you have to hike the canal road, as it is entirely exposed. Should rain have fallen in the past couple of days or if it is forecast, do not hike the canyon, as flashfloods easily can sweep through it.