A Trip to Whitewater Preserve

I went for a long hike in and along the river bottom of the Whitewater Preserve, near Whitewater, CA a few weeks back, crossing the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) along the way which runs from Mexico to Canada.  This preserve is one of the newest members of the Preserve System, 2,851 acres surrounded by the Bureau of Land Management San Gorgonio Wilderness and is part of the 33,000-acre Sand to Snow Preserve System.  Home to Big Horn sheep, bobcats coyotes and an occasional mountain lion, there is much to explore, although the most captured on digital film that day were the trout and mallard ducks in the nearby marshland.  This looked like a scene from Northern California or Washington, not one from the heart of the Coachella Valley desert floor!
 
The Preserve includes the 291-acre former Whitewater Trout Farm.   I know many of you have fished at the old Whitewater Trout Farm over the years and it would be great to hear your memories of afternoons spent there.
 
 
This scenic 291 acres lies at the end of Whitewater Canyon Road, north of Palm Springs off Interstate 10, and is an important portal into the San Gorgonio Wilderness.