A group that calls itself "TING" comes to visit Palm Springs twice a year and asked me to lead them on a hike in the Mecca Hills today. I was surprised to see how many Mecca Asters are still blooming. ...

An inflatable pig "the size of a school bus" escaped its tether at the Coachella music festival. The owners are offering a reward of $10,000 plus 4 Coachella tickets for it. My fellow hikers know that the Mecca Hills are a magnet for escaped balloons, and it's not far from the concert site to the Mecca Hills, so I expect there's a fair chance that we'll be dragging that thing out of a canyon some time in the next couple of years. ...