Mission Creek Preserve is a nature preserve owned and managed by

The Wildlands Conservancy The Wildlands Conservancy is a nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve land for public recreation. It manages 25 preserves, detailed in the list of its preserves, covering over across the western United States. The preserve system en ...

, a nonprofit land conservancy. Consisting of in

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

, west of Morongo Valley, the preserve features perennial Mission Creek flowing through a desert canyon. It is located within the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

and is part of the Sand to Snow National Monument. More preserves can be found in the list of preserves.

Recreation

The preserve has hiking trails, a picnic area, a restroom, and a walk-in campground. There is a parking lot before a locked gate. To drive past the locked gate, one must contact the Conservancy. Just past the gate are the remains of an old tourist ranch with four stone cabins, each with a picnic table inside. Nearby is an old pool foundation and stone chimney. Hikers can walk on the dirt road to the Stone House Campground, passing a densely vegetated wetland. The Stone House has picnic tables and informational displays inside, with a restroom next to it. The trail continues up the canyon, eventually intersecting with the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

. North of the junction on the PCT is San Gorgonio Overlook, which provides a view of Whitewater Canyon and San Gorgonio Mountain. Heading south on the PCT reaches the Whitewater Preserve. Guided nature walks are offered. An interpretive program for kids focuses on desert water cycles and watershed ecology.

Geography

The Stone House Campground is at an altitude of 2,458 feet. Mission Creek flows year-round. The preserve is located in an ecotone where the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

and

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

overlap. Despite being in a desert, there is a rich riparian habitat due to the creek. The preserve is surrounded by the Bureau of Land Management's San Gorgonio Wilderness and is within the Sand to Snow National Monument. The southern section of the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...

has multiple strands. The Mission Creek strand, which runs through the preserve, may have a higher risk of slipping than other strands. Downhill from the preserve, the earthquake fault blocks the water from reaching the surface, resulting in minimal vegetation below the preserve. The Conservancy has three desert preserves in this region:

Whitewater Preserve Whitewater Preserve is a nature preserve owned and managed by The Wildlands Conservancy, a nonprofit land conservancy. Consisting of of land in Riverside County, California, the preserve features the perennial Whitewater River (California), Whi ...

, Mission Creek Preserve, and Pioneertown Mountains Preserve.

Flora and Fauna

Large mammals include

Desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

, mountain lions, and bears. Over 200 species of birds have been observed. Wildflowers can be excellent in the spring if there was sufficient rain the prior winter. Painted Hills Wetland is a heavily vegetated wetland area with giant cottonwoods.

History

In the early 1900s, T Cross K Ranch operated as a guest ranch with a house, stone cabins, and a swimming pool. Remnants of these remain. By the 1950s, the ranch ceased hosting tourists. In 1997, TWC acquired the property and opened the preserve to the public for light recreation. In 2016, President Obama designated Sand to Snow National Monument, which includes this preserve. In August 2023, remnants of

Hurricane Hilary Hurricane Hilary was a large and powerful Pacific hurricane in August 2023 that brought torrential rainfall and gusty winds to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, the Baja California Peninsula, and the Southwestern United States, resulting in wid ...

dumped of rain in Upper Mission Creek. This caused substantial road and trail damage to the preserve.

References

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External links