Why Hiking Murray Hill Feels Like You've Conquered a Mountain

What makes Murray Hill special isn't its elevation but it perspective from the summit. The trail starts near sea level so even a moderate climb delivers vertical payoff, so imagine what view await after climbing over 2000 feet.

Murray Hill delivers a 'mountain' experience:

• Rapid elevation gain in short mileage

• Full exposure where the vast openness amplifies the sense of height

• Mountain feel with rugged ridges and eroded gullies

• Summit view that rival peaks many times higher

Hike distance: 7.34 miles

Elevation gain: 2,207 feet

Prominence: 590 feet

TrailsNH Hiking Difficulty Calculator: 180 – Strenuous

Click here for a review of prominence and its role in mountain topography

Click here to navigate to the TrailsNH website for a description of the hiking difficulty calculator

This is an aerial perspective of the trail leading to Murray Hill.

Let's Start Hiking

There are multiple paths to Murray Hill but we chose to approach the hill from the west by starting at the Frank Bogert Trailhead even though it is a steeper and more direct climb.

We didn't know what to anticipate, but the views of Palm Springs at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains were a good sign of things to come. These homes offer breathtaking views, but were constructed so close to the wash. I wonder if they experience flooding during heavy rain events that are more common in Palm Springs than other desert communities?

The trail started off as a fire road, curving through the hills above the hillside neighborhood.

After a short climb, we reached a saddle that offered a brief respite before the next hill. The elevation gain chart I posted shows there's very little flat terrain on this hike; it's mostly uphill.

The hills surrounding the trail provided incredible examples of the power of erosion with deep washes, gullies, and ravines.

Picturesque views looking toward the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains and lands of the Aqua Caliente Reservation.

These Gander cholla are common cacti of the Sonoran Desert but it has a very narrow range within Southern California. This cactus is well-suited to the harsh desert environment, featuring segmented stems densely covered in spines. It primarily grows on rocky slopes with well-draining sandy and gravelly soils.

The spines both deter herbivores and provide shade to reduce water loss.

Gander cholla often grow in shrubby clumps reaching heights of 5-6 feet. In spring it produces greenish yellow flowers, often with reddish tips. that attract pollinators like native bees

Teddy bear chollas were more scarce on the trail. They are more erect than other chollas and can grow 1-5 feet tall. The branches or lobes are at the top of the trunk and are nearly horizontal. Lower branches typically fall off, and the trunk darkens with age.

The stems of these cacti detach with ease, and the area surrounding a mature plant is frequently covered with scattered cholla balls and small plants that have sprouted where these balls have taken root. More commonly, these balls cling to people and animals passing by, and when they eventually drop, the spines make contact with the ground and start to root.

We approached the start of our next hill climb.

After another 1/2 mile, we reached the summit of this rise, having climbed over 400 feet in elevation.

The trail was lined with Encelia, also known as brittlebush. It's hard to miss the soft silver mounds of brittlebush that typically grow to heights of 2-4 feet. Their thin branches are covered in diamond-shaped pale-gray to green leaves that feel velvety to the touch. The leaf surface is covered in tiny hairs that reflect sunlight and slow loss of moisture. It's a built in version of sunscreen, a survival trick that helps it endure the summer heat that bakes the land. In the winter and spring, especially after generous rains the whole shrub burst with with daisy-like bright yellow flowers.

We also spotted random gold poppy flowers. These bright yellow annual desert flowers are native in several North American desert regions

Creosote bushes are a dominant species in the Sonoran Desert. This evergreen shrub can reach heights of 3-10 feet in well-drained soils found on alluvial fans and flats. The root systems of mature creosote plants are highly efficient at absorbing water, preventing nearby fallen seeds from gathering enough moisture to germinate, thereby creating barren areas around each bush. Native Americans in the Southwest believed that it could treat various ailments, such as sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, dysmenorrhea, and snakebites.

Yet Another Hill to Climb

Dave on the last section of switchbacks getting closer to the top of the hill.

I stayed back for a nice photo op of Dave on the hill. Yes, he did wait for me.

From the top of this hill, we had sweeping views of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains.

The trail briefly drops from this bump and follows the ridge southeast. Murray Hill is now easily recognizable, standing like a pyramid above the nearby hills. The trail traces the ridge line, beginning at the base of the hill on the far right.

The trail rising on the ridge became more evident as we approached the hill.

After trekking 2.8 miles to the foot of the hill, we arrived at a junction with the Clara Burgess Trail, which we would take to reach the summit of Murray Hill. Signs clearly indicated that dogs were not allowed on the trail. Hopefully, everyone complies with this crucial measure to safeguard the bighorn sheep.

The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is 'essential' habitat for the continued survival of Peninsula bighorn sheep. Bighorn sheep evolved in the presence of canine predators (coyotes). Therefore, bighorn sheep have a natural fear of canines. The presence of dogs, which are also canines, may result in one of the following:

• bighorn sheep may abandon essential habitat frequented by dogs, or

• bighorn sheep, upon “learning” that dogs on trails do not attack them, may habituate to (or tolerate) the presence of dogs, thereby increasing their vulnerability to predation by coyotes.

California barrel cactus were abundant on the ridge.

These are the most common giant barrel cacti found in the western desert areas. They can reach heights of up to 8 feet, and their spines or needles can grow as long as 5 inches. In late spring, the barrel cactus produces a yellow flower, occasionally with a greenish hue, near the top of the plant.

Juvenile plants are round and typically feature deep red spines. They thrive in rocky areas, particularly along canyon sides, and can be found at elevations reaching 4,500 feet.

But plant life was not restricted to cactus. We also saw yellow fiddlenecks. The name is derived from the flower stems which bear many small flowers that curl over at the top in a manner reminiscent of the head of a fiddle. The seeds and foliage of fiddlenecks are poisonous to livestock, particularly cattle, because they contain alkaloids and high concentrations of nitrates. The sharp hairs of the plants also cause skin irritation in humans.

Here's the view that explains why it's named 'yellow fiddleneck'.

We spotted a small clump of phacelia. Phacelia plants are annual herbs, often with hairy stems and leaves. Their flowers are typically bell-shaped and come in shades of blue and purple, with showy, protruding stamens.

Even though it was early in the season for flowering plants, large green plants along the trailside provided evidence of fall and winter rains. Schott's pygmy cedar is not a cedar, fir, or pine tree, but a member of the aster family. The leaves of this evergreen shrub really do resemble fir tree needles.

Ephedra plants are branching shrubs that thrive in desert or arid regions worldwide. They typically reach heights of 1-4 feet on dry, rocky sandy slopes. These plants have numerous slender branches that range from blue-gray to green, with each node featuring two very small leaf scales. The leaves are so tiny that they cannot support photosynthesis, which instead occurs in the green stem itself. Indigenous people have traditionally used Ephedra for various medicinal purposes, such as treating asthma, hay fever, and the common cold. In the southwestern United States and Mexico, stem fragments of these species are used to make a tea-like preparation known as Mormon tea, Mexican tea, squaw tea, and desert tea.

The Summit in Sight

After slightly more than 3.5 miles, we began the final push to the top.

This is like a 'Where's Waldo/Dave' puzzle. Fortunately, Dave wore a white jersey today, so he'd stand out against the brown background.

I wasn't slow on this last climb, I just wanted to get a picture of Dave standing on the summit.

He patiently waited for a 'close-up'.

Overlooking Palm Springs. It may be surprising that one of the best views of a city that sits beneath a mountain range that towers nearly 11,000 feet, can be found from a summit with a seemingly unimpressive height of 2,200+ feet.

To the west, the wall of San Jacinto Mountain dominates the views

There were 2 picnic tables available at the landing right below the rocky summit. In this picture there appears to be a road running through the middle of the desert and Santa Rosa Mountains. In fact it's Dunn Road. In the early 1970s, desert entrepreneur Michael Dunn of Rancho Mirage bulldozed a dirt road with the hope that it would lead to a mountainside hotel. The hotel never materialized and the dirt road remained Dunn Road, which he often had to restore after canyon floods. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Land Management did not agree that Dunn had the right to build this road. The Bureau locked off that part of the road which touches public land, thereby rendering the road unusable and with it Dunn's dreams.

A common side-blotched lizard joined us for lunch. This lizard is a species of small iguanid lizard native to dry regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. Males can grow up to 2.4" from snout to vent, while females are typically a little smaller. The degree of pigmentation varies with sex and population. Some males, like this one, have blue flecks spread over their backs and tails, and their sides may be yellow or orange, while others may not be patterned at all.

In the case of the common side-blotched lizard, males have adopted three different mating strategies that correlate with the color of their throat. Blue, yellow, and orange male side-blotched lizards compete with one another in a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. The orange-throated males are the largest and produce the most testosterone. This makes them aggressive fighters that bully blue-throated lizards away from females. Yellow-throated males, however, produce little testosterone and are smaller. They mimic females, allowing them to sneak in and whisk females away from orange males. The medium-sized blue-throated males are neither aggressive nor sneaky. Blue males work together and form strong pair-bonds with a female, making it hard for yellow-throated males to sneak in and break them apart.

In summary, orange beats blue, blue beats yellow, and yellow beats orange. Each strategy has its own strengths and weaknesses, allowing all three color morphs to exist together in nature. If one morphology somehow loses its advantage over another, evolution will remove that morph from the population. Will the aggressive orange-throated males one day win out over the sneaky yellow-throats? Will the sneaky yellows succeed in breaking apart the cooperative blue-throats? Will the three mating strategies exist in harmony forever? Only time may tell.

It's hard to be 100% sure but zooming in on the lizard, I think this is an orange throated male. It looks like it had an incident that involved losing a portion of his tail.

The views spanning across Cathedral City Cove with Palm Desert visible in the background.

There is something special about the formation and folds of the hills at the edge of Cathedral City and at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

It was a great afternoon getting to the top but it was time to head home.

From this distance, the name 'Murray Hill' doesn't seem to do justice to this prominent peak. Perhaps we should consider renaming it 'Murray Mountain', as it suits it better than Murray Hill.

One last look at the San Jacinto Mountains with the thin sliver of snow covered peak of San Gorgonio in the background (right of center). Once we reached the last bump to our right it was all down hill to the car. A perfect afternoon for a great hike.

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