Hiking to an Oasis in the Desert

Tuesday, 7 December 2010 we headed to Coachella Valley Preserve, just north of Palm Desert. We went to the nice Visitor Center which is in an oasis of California Palms – there is such a thing as a real live oasis. We decided to take a six mile hike to the Pushwalla Palms – they really do surprise you as you come around a switchback and there they are.

The palms grow out of the water that seeps through the San Andreas Fault, giving enough moisture to create this riparian oasis. So we walked down into the valley. We surprised a bunch of quails that sounded like a motor boat taking off with the beating of their wings. Here Henry posed to give a sense of scale to these native palm trees.

Wednesday 15 December we drove to the south entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. We chose a 9 mile hike to Lost Palms Oasis with a detour to Mastodon Peak to see a view of the Salton Sea. We had the pleasure of hearing a history presentation the night before at the library of the Salton Sea so it gave us some ideas to ponder while we walked.

Quite an interesting variety of plants – yuccas, agaves, California firs, a desert holly, some sage – I am still working on my identification as many of these plants will not survive in Denver. But it is fun to see them in their native setting with some unique cloud formations.

We found the Lost Palms 😉 It was worth taking a break and enjoying the view.

The rocks/boulders are not as large here as they are further north in the park – but beautiful and sculptural. The southern part of the park is in the Sonoran Desert and this particular area is a sub section called the Colorado Desert. The northern part of the park is the Mojave Desert which is higher in elevation and also where the Joshua Trees grow. That is for another day of exploration.

Palm Springs Architecture and Events

Thursday evening 9 December 2010 we went on a walking Tour of the Inns in downtown Palm Springs. What a great event! Fifteen hotels opened their doors and rooms with treats to consume around the pools – several had live music. It really was a feast for all the senses..it was a balmy 65 degrees – cool enough to enjoy some warm mulled cider but warm enough to linger. The architecture we enjoyed the most was DelMarcosHotel.com designed by William Cody in the 1940’s, DesertHillsPalmSprings.com where we had stayed 7 years ago when we were touristing, and the most photographed pool at PalmSpringTennisClub.net.

Seeing these hotels made us inspired to find some of the homes we had seen in Jules Schulman’s Visual Acoustics documentary…we found a map with some of the stars homes indicated and from driving around were able to locate the Kaufman House in all its refurbished glory. (photo taken Sunday 12 December) Excitement!

And if we were brave enough (or invited) to walk up to the front door this would be our experience.

We also went to the Palm Springs Art Museum and surprise! they had SEVEN Henry Moore sculptures on display. Very exciting for me after giving twenty seven tours this year of the eighteen sculptures at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

We are enjoying the one bedroom condo in Palm Desert with its view of palm trees and the Santa Rosa mountains in the distance. This view, the pool, hot tub, along with some red wine make it our own little paradise.

Death Valley Experience

 

Saturday, 4 December 2010 we visited Death Valley National Park – Henry’s last National Park in the continental USA west of the Mighty Mississippi. We camped at Texas Springs and saw a star gazing program with the ranger at Zabriskie Point. Here is a picture during the day

Later in the day we hiked Golden Canyon and came upon this bit of wildlife. The ranger told us it was a male Tarantula as the females are even a bit larger, since this one was as large as Henry’s hand.

As we were waiting for a ranger led walk through the dunes, we read about the park in the newsletter…noticing the picture was taken where we were sitting. It was a good nature walk as we learned about the creosote bushes and how the kangaroo rats lived in the roots – we saw some tracks but only saw a stink bug.

We stayed and watched the sunset before camping a second night at Emigrant Pass. More star gazing tonight as it looks very clear.