Tahquitz Rock, originally uploaded by LeggNet.

Tahquitz, also called Lily Rock, is a rock climbing area near Idyllwild-Pine Cove, California. It has easy-to-difficult multi-pitch climbs on great rock on the way up San Jacinto Peak. Tahquitz has a tough approach hike leading to a roughly 1000 foot (300m) face. The downclimb is dangerous, especially at night. A second popular rock face, called Suicide Rock, lies across the valley.

It is named for Takwish, a mythological figure of the Cahuilla. A Cahuilla legend recounts how tribesmen chanted over the body of their fallen chieftan Tahquitz, or Takwish, who had been possessed by an evil spirit and killed his sweetheart. Suddenly his body began to glow like fire, and he rose and settled on Idyllwild’s Tahquitz Rock. According to the legend, Tahquitz is trapped beneath the rock with a rattlesnake and a condor for company, and when the mountain shakes and trembles, it is not an earthquake, but Tahquitz up to his evil tricks on Lily Rock.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahquitz

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