Box Springs Mountain, Riverside County

My friends Otis and Alex, along with myself and the poodle, took a hike along the top of Box Springs Mountain today. Here's Alex and Otis (click for larger):

A warm day for it being October -- in the 80s. The mountain provides some fabulous views of the San Bernardino Valley, as well as much of the metro area of Riverside and Moreno Valley. According to Wikipedia:

Peaking at 3,047 feet, this craggy brown mountain is among the most prominent features of the central Riverside County landscape. The letter "C" is embedded on the Riverside facing side. It was made with a painted concrete slab. The letter "M" was embedded on the Moreno Valley side of the mountain in 1966 as a symbol of Moreno Valley, which had not yet incorporated.

Here's a Google Earth KML file of the peak, Box_Springs_Mountain.kmz showing the "M". This photo is from a vantage point just above, overlooking Moreno Valley -- that's the 215 freeway heading into the distance, with the Santa Ana mountains to the right.

Box Springs is also Box Spring Reserve and includes a wide variety of animal life, some of which we saw today:

Rich in vertebrates, the reserve hosts nineteen species of reptiles, including three rare species: the coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum), the orange-throated whiptail (Cnemidoporus hyperythrus), and the red diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber). Sixteen species of mammals inhabit the reserve, including the Pacific kangaroo rat (Dipodomys agilis), mountain lion (Felis concolor), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus).

On my last trip there, I saw only a jack rabbit and some snake tracks across the trail. Today, however, we caught sight of a trio of deer. My digital camera has poor zooming ability, but here's a shot of one in the distance:

There are birds aplenty, with hawks, ravens, and a few falcons the most obvious. The numerous TV and radio towers on top of the mountain provide handy perches, like for this hawk:

Who then took off as we approached:

That University of California site also mentions the birding opportunities:

Also observed on site are over eighty-five bird species. Soaring and hunting on the updrafts are many raptors, such as golden eagle, turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, white-tailed kite, northern harrier, and American kestrel. Other avian species frequently seen are white-throated swift, Anna’s hummingbird, rock and canyon wrens, lazuli bunting, western meadowlarks, and rufous-crowned, black-chinned, and sage sparrows.

You can even find artwork here and there:

This LocalHikes.com page refers to the Two Trees Trail, the end of which is the picnic area that we parked at today. We've done Two Trees a couple of times, and we were saying it would make a keen (albeit lengthy) hike to combine the two. Google Earth KML file: Top_of_Two_Trees_Trail.kmz

Our hike from the parking lot to just above the M takes about an hour and a half up, an hour back (depending on breaks) -- about 4.6 miles round trip. Some moderate climbing along wide dirt roads; nothing too technical, although there are side trails you can go on to up the difficulty. Bring plenty of water.

So I'd highly recommend this mountain for a relatively easy hike with killer views. Pharaoh also approves. ;)