Palm Springs escapades
Throughout the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs area are many places to visit and explore. Let’s look at a few.
Several natural preserves are throughout the valley and into the San Bernadino Mountains. All have hiking trails and exist to preserve the land around them — especially from the developers who hover with ideas for housing or resorts.
The Morongo Preserve, which is about 20 miles from my place in Cathedral City, is a delightful and easy place to explore. In addition to regular dirt trails, it has mile-long board walkways for people with disabilities. These walkways cover much of a swampy area which usually is dry. However, we had more rain than usual last winter so much of the landscape changed. When we went on a walk/hike in the early spring this year to see how the rains had changed the landscape we were pleasantly surprised to see not only additional water but even a small waterfall.
Among the delights during our walk/hike was a deer thoroughly enjoying the vegetation, a bird (have no idea what kind because I’m not a birder) sitting on a branch right in front of us for several minutes and then flying off to find his mate, and small birds and lizards looking for food along the ground. We could see green shoots on bushes and trees, another indication of the rain’s benefits. It’s fascinating to see how a little rain changes the landscape.
Another delight was a trip to a local little theater to see Neil Simon’s 45 Seconds from Broadway. A positive aspect of the Coachella Valley are the little theater groups. With a Palm Springs population of former film and stage stars these theater groups thrive. This particular group presents several excellent productions, with this one among the best. They like to produce Neil Simon plays, all of which have been very good. The ticket prices are reasonable and give residents a chance to view local productions with excellent casts.
On the larger stage is the MacCallum Theater in Palm Desert. They have everything — plays, musicals, ballet and dance companies and symphonies, individual stars. They also often feature lesser known but talented newcomers. The ticket prices range from fairly low to very high depending on the performer or production.
Several casinos also have stages and try to show star acts at least once a week during the season. Again the prices range depending on the star. We were quite surprised at the type of stage (chairs on the floor with low level stage) at Monongo Casino when we saw Bob Newhardt (as funny in person as on TV).
The Agua Caliente and Fantasy Springs Casinos have better stages usually with shows for younger people with recent bands and singers. For oldsters, you can still see people like Frankie Valle, Paul Anka and Johnny Mathis — all of whom still sound pretty good.
Another great walking, hiking and picnic spot is the Whitewater Preserve five miles north of Palm Springs off Highway 10. Normally there’s not much water in the Whitewater River, but in early February with all the rain it had an abundant flow. The park originally was a trout fishing farm, with the ponds still on site. Through the work of the Wildlands Conservancy there are cement walkways, numerous picnic tables and quite a nature museum with maps of all the preserves in the area.
You can walk at least a mile on easy trails. If you want energetic hikes they also are available into the upper plateaus. To do this you have to cross the many huge rocks of the river bed, which sometimes can be a challenge. Last winter the water, which actually comes down from the San Bernadino Mountains was high.
At one point, the river was so full the road was closed for several days. In talking to a ranger, he said it was really quiet when that happened. Only he, his family and the other ranger and family there — cut off from civilization.
Four hiking trails go from the preserve to connect with trails that are part of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. This goes from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.
If you simply want an easy walk along the “wash” of the Whitewater River (rarely has water) at the end of DeVaul Street in Rancho Mirage. This walk takes you along the bank of the wash, down into the wash and then along the other side. You’ll see a golf course, some fascinating houses including a huge Italian villa, and an Arabian house complete with goats in the backyard.
Always something to do in the Coachella Valley — never a dull moment!