Hiking The Palm Canyon Trail

After you inch your way down the main drag of Palm Springs, past the restaurants, clubs, shops, noise and famed Palm Canyon Walk of Stars , a peaceful journey awaits.

Continue down South Palm Canyon Drive, along the dusty road dotted with flash flood signs warning “Turn Around or Drown.” At the end you will find yourself at the entrance to the Agua Caliente Cahuilla Indian Reservation and some of the most magical hiking trails in Southern California.

Entrance fees to Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon and Murray Canyon range from $9.00 for adults to $5.00 for children for adventure on foot as well as horseback.

The most spiritual of all the trails is Palm Canyon – 15 miles at most and ranges from easy to strenuous in difficulty level. Or you can just have lunch at a picnic table, surrounded by the largest California Fan Palm Oasis in the world, which has been there for centuries, originally settled by the Agua Caliente Native Californians.

The trail winds along a canyon of palms, pools and streams, surrounded in dramatic contrast by ancient rocky gorges jutting straight up to the sky and the barren desert that is the Coachella Valley. There’s a new surprise after every turn. Handmade rock sculptures turn up out of nowhere on the way up. If you’re lucky, you might even encounter one of the Granite Spiney Lizards that call this quiet canyon home, taking a sunbath.

Finish off the day at the trading post for souvenirs and more fascinating facts on Native Californians.

And remember your water!

http://www.indian-canyons.com

Photo credit: Erik Glode

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Michele Stueven

A native Angelena, Michele Stueven is L.A. Weekly’s Food Editor and has been a personal chef, caterer, food stylist and blogger in Los Angeles. She studied Journalism at California State University Northridge before moving on to the Associated Press and Time Inc., where she produced award-winning multimedia content across platforms. She’s a farmer’s market fixture, frequenting markets across the city, celebrating seasonal ingredients and the restaurants that serve them. When she’s not picking strawberries and tomatoes in Oxnard or fishing for lingcod off the Channel Islands, you’ll find her giving regular cooking demonstrations at the state of the art demo kitchen at Bloomingdale’s in the Westfield Century City Mall or moderating conferences on food and wellness and the future of food sustainability in Los Angeles.

For more from Michele Stueven, visit: www.laweekly.com/author/mstueven/

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