PALM SPRINGS – We’re humming along a quiet suburban road outside this popular tourist destination on a clear, cool March morning. It’s only around 8 a.m., but already the dun-coloured mountains off to the northeast look like they’re already baked to a crisp.
Our Desert Adventures Red Jeep Tours guide, Mike Groves, tells members of our tour group (my wife, Barbara, plus my Dad and his ladyfriend, Lucy) to look more closely at some of the small valleys and impressions on the side of the hills. Sure enough, we fix our gazes and begin to make out a series of small impressions with dark green smudges.
“Those all are natural oases,” Groves tells our group. “You’re looking at the San Andreas Fault right there. The Pacific Plate and the North American Plate meet here, and the two plates constantly grind against one another.”
Mike Groves points out some of the local flora on our Desert Adventures Red Jeep Tour in Palm Springs. JIM BYERS PHOTO
He explains the grinding action creates what’s called a fault gouge, which gets filled with a kind of thick dust like flour.
“Have you ever mixed water and flour? You know how the flour doesn’t let the water penetrate unless you mix it up? That’s what happens here. The rain that falls basically sits on top of that ‘flour,’ and that’s why you have all those oases and all those palm trees.”
A few minutes later we’re standing alongside a small, gurgling creek that tumbles out of one of those oases. Huge palm trees soar above our heads, their thick, green fronds reaching into the blue desert sky.
Groves, who also goes by the Indian name of “White Hawk,” tells us how native Americans relied on the palm tree for so many things. The shade was surely welcome in this corner of the Sonoran desert, but the palm tree fronds also could be made into a kind of rope. I’d never paid them much attention, but Groves also points out a thick bunch of dark blue bits hanging from the tree.
Tiny palm fruits taste a bit like dates. JIM BYERS PHOTO
He picks a couple of tiny palm fruits for us and we bite into them, carefully picking around the hard seeds lest we require a visit to a Palm Springs dentist. They’re not terribly substantial, but the taste is similar to a date, which makes a certain amount of sense.
Groves also points out some honey bean mesquite trees and small, gnarly pods hanging from one of the branches.
“The natives used to ground those up into a meal,” he said. “It tastes like Honey-Nut Cheerios.”
I can just picture the kids on a Saturday morning, waiting for Mom or Dad to get the mesquite meal ready before they start their day of play among the palms and small creeks.
A carpet of desert wildflowers in Palm Springs, California. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Our tour continues on to a desert field that’s awash with a gazillion wildflowers; purple verbena, Arizona lupine and brilliant yellow desert sunflowers The past winter was an unusually rainy one in the Palm Springs area, and the resulting blooms are some of the best Groves has ever seen.
Our final stop is at Wilhelm’s Metate Ranch, a privately-owned property that Red Jeep Tour riders get to visit. It’s a pretty spot in a canyon that’s riddled with pockmarked hills. They do corporate events and photo shoots inside the ranch at a place called Coyote Flats, where you’ll find a covered, native American-style home near a small pond and a display that explains how folks eked out an existence in this harsh, dry environment.
It’s too tricky to reach, but high overhead is a giant rock that’s been worn smooth by hundreds of years of natives making meal from the honey bean mesquite or other plants.
People have been living in this part of California for centuries. Animals, of course, can stake a much longer claim, as we learn by touring The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in nearby Palm Desert. It’s a wonderful, family place that features dozens of animals, including jaguars, giraffes, Arabian oryx, Barbados Blackbelly Sheep and Fennec Foxes, with monstrous ears that can apparently pick out the sound of a snack buried several feet below the ground.
A caracal at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. JIM BYERS PHOTO
We spot a badger furiously digging into the dirt around a log in his enclosure, as well as a caracal (a curious-looking feline with tufted ears that’s native to Africa and Asia) that’s behind glass and perched on a rocky ledge. A visitor who’s admiring the cat has brought a companion dog along for the day, which the caracal spots. The cat crouches low and fixes a fierce glare on the dog as I snap away with my camera.
The Living Desert also is home to hundreds of species of plants, slithering snakes and lizards (behind glass), bald eagles, an animal hospital, camel rides, wildlife shows, a carousel, hiking trails and a massive model train set that spreads out for maybe 100 meters and features tiny replicas of Mount Rushmore, the Santa Barbara catholic mission, old-time gas stations and even a cowboy lassoing a dinosaur. It’s a delight and a half that probably spurs a daily spike of “model trains for sale” Internet searches.
There are dozens of ways to enjoy the outdoors in Palm Springs. I didn’t take the aerial tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto on this trip (the road to the bottom of the tram was closed due to rain damage and is expected to open April 1), but it’s a marvellous way to get a feel for the region. The tram, which is billed as the largest rotating tram in the world, whisks visitors up a steep incline, past jagged, rocky cliffs where deep green pines cling for dear life.
Andreas Canyon is a marvellous spot for nature lovers and hikers visiting Palm Springs. JIM BYERS PHOTO
There are a series of hiking trails near the top, but the tram station sits at 8,516 feet of elevation so there’s often snow in winter, which was the case during my visit earlier this month.
Another terrific option is a hike in Andreas Canyon, where you’ll find a small stream lined with California fan palms, as well as an easy but hugely rewarding one-mile trail (each way) that takes you past remarkable rock faces and craggy canyons Palm Canyon and Murray Canyon also are excellent nature spots.
I’ll have more soon on great hotel options in Palm Springs, focussing on the wonderful and family-friendly Omni Rancho Las Palmas.
MY VISIT TO PALM SPRINGS WAS PAID FOR BY VISIT GREATER PALM SPRINGS, INCLUDING OUR RED JEEP TOUR AND VISIT TO THE LIVING DESERT. VISIT GREATER PALM SPRINGS DID NOT APPROVE THIS REPORT AND DID NOT SEE IT PRIOR TO PUBLICATION.
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