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05 January 2018

Desert Hiking, Coachella Valley

Now that the holidays are over, I have time (and energy) to post some pix from my other* hikes in/around the Coachella Valley.

Enjoy!! (As always, click pics to embiggen.)

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*Other, that is, than the two hikes up in Joshua Tree for which see previous post.
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Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve: Welcome Center
"Hey guys, wait up! I'm trying to take some pictures here!" Desert hiking is different.
Palm Oasis plus distant San Andreas fault lines.
Only California native palm species. Ancient.
I thought those long frond things were called skirts or aprons. But no! They're called petticoats.
Palm Oasis
Wind farm on the Coachella Valley floor (400' elev) looking up to Mount San Jacinto (8500' elev)
View south across Palm Springs toward Mexico from Mount San Jacinto State park.
Hiking Mount San Jacinto. To get up here, you take a tram that rises from approx. 3000' elevation to the top!
Alpine Meadow
Yet another palm oasis. This one in Indian Canyons on the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of the  Cahuilla Indians.
Oasis.
Note how the petticoats have been burned off the trunks. Wild fires swept through here a few years back, but these trees withstood it.
It's a good guess there's water underground around there. Denuded, unburnt stand of palms.
Western hiking, yo!
Jim H. of the desert