Hiking Palm Springs and Joshua Tree

Any trip to Palm Springs offers some great outdoor hiking options while you are there .

You can hike in the canyons near Palm Springs or drive an hour to the Joshua Tree National Park for a unique hiking experience .

 

*Joshua Tree

About three quarters , or about 558,000 acres of Joshua Tree National Park, is designated wilderness.

Native Americans stewarded the land here for thousands of years. It was in the 1930s that  activist Minerva  Hoyt persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to proclaim the wilderness, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts  converge, as a National Monument in 1936

There a dozens of hikes, both  long and short and easy and tough, that you can take in the park. Witness the spectacular rock formations up close and the unique Joshua Tree from where the park gets its name .Four easy trails that take about  one hour to hike are

 

*Hidden Valley- a popular location for walkers.

*Cap Rock -the  location where  body of folk rocker Gram Parsons was  allegedly burnt .

*Split Rock – for a quieter more   isolated walk 

*Barker Dam- a popular flat and easy trail 

 

For a longer four wheel excursion , drive through the park entering from Highway 10 at Cottonwood past Indio and exiting at 29 Palms or Joshua Tree on Highway 62.This drive is best taken as a day trip.

 

*Hiking Indian Canyons , Palm Springs 

The desert mountains, canyons and valleys around Palm Springs offer numerous trails for outdoor hikers .

Indian Canyons offer three hikes – Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon and Murray Canyon

The Indian Canyons are the ancestral homeland of the Agua Calente  Band of Cahuilla Indians.

Ancient trails , rock art, dams and reservoirs still exist in the canyons . With an abundant water supply the Agua Caliente grew cops such as melons, squash, beans and corn.

Hikes here particularly Palm Canyon involve some hilly climbs but the views are spectacular

 

Destination – California