Rademacher Hills Trail

It was sunset on the trail... I had never been to Ridgecrest before.An important little place in the middle of a desert. As for this trail hike, we took a moderate one up the mountain to the peak to sit and take in the views on all sides. It really depends who you go with. The desert can be a lonely place. Especially as the day comes to a close, it is so quiet here, it could be just you and your thoughts. Sobering.We saw some rabbits and lizards.Be on the watch for coyotes and rattlesnakes.The steep trek down I thought, was harder than going up. Make sure you have really good hiking shoes. If you come here on a whim let's say, sandals or flip flops are not going to cut it.Bring plenty of water, very hot in summer and keep in mind that there are no bathrooms here. Please pick up all your trash. This was a beautiful, clean place.The parking area felt safe and fortunately for us, there were not a lot of people there on this given Sunday. I would go back in a heartbeat. The summit views were spectacular and I always welcome the exercise and time to reflect. It can also feel very romantic. I love the desert.

I just arrived in town and this was suggested to me at the Maturango Museum, as a quick place to go to become acquainted with some of the local plants.There were a couple of trail heads, the one behind the college having a parking lot close to the road.I walked a bit to see what was there and took some photos. I'm sure it would be more interesting the further out a person could go. It reminded me of bike rides in a state forest in Florida and I'm sure a quicker view would be more interesting but less productive for photography.

While at the Maturango Museum, my boyfriend's dad picked up a photocopied handout on the Rademacher trails, got nostalgic of his times wandering around there with his friends, meeting old prospectors who still came through the area, and decided to pile us all in the truck and head on over there. After driving south down College Heights Blvd, we turned left onto a dirt road (Belle Vista - which was mostly flat, through a bit of a washboard), crossed a trail used by kids on off-roading vehicles, and parked in the little lot in front of the Sunland Trailhead. Here's a map, which I hope will prove useful should you decide to embark on a hike in that area: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/pdfs/ridgecrest_pdfs.Par.25038.File.dat/Rademacher_5.pdfA sign at the start of the trail, which presents you with a map and information on the local flora and fauna also has a sign asking that you not shoot anything out of respect for people's property. And of course there are bullet holes through the sign and the other displays and placards at the trailhead. Anyway, we did the Sunland hike. It took less than an hour. Most would probably do it faster, but we stopped to check out this abandoned mine on the way up the switchback (mostly because we needed a breather). Even if there weren't barbed wire around the entrance, it wouldn't exactly be easy to get into it since it's a straight drop for several yards and you can't see very far down. Pretty interesting. We watched the sun set, standing near the Ron Henry Interpretive Site. It's the peak of the trail, though sort of a valley between Sky Point and Andrew Peak. From there we could see houses on the other side of the hills, which the boyfriend's dad was amazed to see, swearing they weren't there when he used to hike in those hills. Occasionally you can hear people talking in their yards when the wind blows in our direction. The trails are pretty well maintained, one of those where they put a log every few feet of the switchback as a step. The Sunland Trail is covered with loose gravel, though, so it can be a bit treacherous as you walk down the hill and the rocks start to slide out from under you. That trail also connects with several of the other trails that appear on the map linked above.

When I first found this hiking spot, gotta be honest, I wasn't too excited because of the lack of greenery, trees, trash cans, etc. but once my hubs started walking through the pathways, I was excited to come back. The few times I've come, I brought our pup and have left him off the leash when were far away enough from the parking lot. This place is pet friendly but it doesn't seem like a lot of pet owners clean up after their pups. And that may be because there aren't any trash cans in sight. We've dumped our pups poop behind the CCC's children center or a trash can on campus. Even though this hiking spot lacks trash cans, it does have a ton of trails to take that starts behind CCC and goes out towards the mountains. We haven't ventured out too far just yet, but I can't wait to see how many other trails we find. Also, another huge plus is there are markers you can follow...not to mention, it's hard to not be able to find your way back. Honestly, there are some many trails you're not likely to run into anyone else. I have seen quite a bit of bikers and people on dirt bikes/dune buggies, but it can be a bit hard to see through the desert plants. There's a few signs before entering the hiking trails that gives info about desert turtles, but we haven't seen any yet. The only critters I've seen are lizards and ants. One thing to be careful of is the broken glass all throughout the desert. It can be pretty, but sharp!