I’ve been saving up my visit to Palm Canyon for a slow blog day, and nothing was slower than yesterday as I never left the park. It was Paulette’s Quilting Group day so she was off at the clubhouse from 10am to 3pm. It was a sunny, warm day so I spent a lot of time outside, sitting in a lounger, and just reading.
My first view of Palm Canyon – from the Trading Post
For regular readers of my blog, and I thank you all, remember I hiked through both Andreas and Palm Canyons on Feb. 7th before the Super Bowl Game? I posted a blog about my Andreas Canyon visit the next day, but decided to save Palm Canyon because the posting was already too long.
Walking down the footpath to the canyon is pretty spectacular
So, last I talked about the Indian Canyons, I was leaving Andreas for the short 5 minute drive down to the largest of the Canyons – Palm! The road follows the smaller West Fork of Palm Canyon, where I noticed a few palms, but it was nothing compared with the view over the main canyon, where thousands of trees grow very close together over several miles.
The recent slides have given the creek a rather muddy look
A wide, paved, switchback foot path leads from the Trading Post down to the Oasis and creek. From there, the main trail runs along the canyon floor for approximately 1 mile. I noticed three things, right away about Palm Canyon Creek – it was full, flowing extremely fast and it was muddy colored.
Palm Canyon also featured some very interesting looking rock formations
I guess the mud color was due to the heavy rains of the previous week. That caused some minor landslides and the storm created new streams to carry all the mud and debris down into Palm Canyon Creek. Apparently, kids do a lot of swimming in the pools here, but the day I was there that wouldn’t have been a good idea. It did make for some spectacular waterfalls though.
This was up towards the end of the 1 mile portion along the creek
After I hiked for a mile along the creek and beneath the giant Palms, the path ended at one bank and began again on the other side. The only way to cross was to walk through swift flowing, knee deep water. I watched a few brave souls do this and quickly decided I would skip that part of the hike. I just had visions of dropping my camera in the creek not to mention breaking an arm or a leg.
A few hikers taking off their boots to wade across the creek
Once across the creek, I gather Palm Canyons goes on for another 15 miles stretching across the north slopes of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Most of this is through the barren hills above the creek, while other branches lead to the West Fork of Palm Canyon, and to various sites to the east.
One of the particularly nice spots along Palm Canyon Creek
At this point, I headed up from the creek and found a different path, through the desert, that eventually took me back to the Trading Post. Once there, I asked the attendant about the trail across the creek and she told me that most visitors just do the hike along the creek and then back on the alternate path I took.
This was part of the path back through the desert portion
That made me feel a little better about not forging the creek and going on. Besides, I knew it was getting pretty close to the time I had to leave the canyons to be able to get back for the Super Bowl kickoff!! It was an enjoyable hike though and I’d recommend it to anyone who is staying in the Palm Springs area.
Have a great Thursday, and thanks again for visiting!
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