Explore the World one Step at a Time
Explore the World one Step at a Time
finally reaching Tamarack Valley, and why a meadow grows at 9,100 feet We are up and up on the first tram on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for this week’s hike to Tamarack Valley. This hike will take us past…
Part two of our San Jacinto summer project: butterscotch-scented pines, a vanishing snowmelt lake, and a wildflower that grows nowhere else on Earth Hike number two in our summer quest to summit San Jacinto Peak (or at least hike as…
Our First Step Toward San Jacinto Peak Summer is here, and so is the Summer Pass for the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. When the Coachella Valley is flirting with 110°F (43°C) and your car doubles as an air fryer, there’s…
100 Lizards, 2 Blood-Squirting Showoffs, and a Fire Scar In early May, our Community Science team laced up for a lizard survey along the Panorama Loop Trail at Black Rock Canyon, in the quiet northwest corner of Joshua Tree National…
Eye to Eye With a Rattlesnake When my Canadian friend told me she wanted to see a chuckwalla, I knew exactly where to take her: the Fortynine Palms Oasis Trail in Joshua Tree National Park. It’s a 3.5-mile (5.6 km)…
When the Desert’s Timing Goes Off In early spring I was showing a friend the Hi-View Trail at Black Rock Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park. I like this trail: it’s easily accessible, doesn’t require a national park pass, and…
The Desert Oasis That Knows How to Bounce Back Some places make you work to find them. Dos Palmas Preserve is one of them, tucked away near the Salton Sea at the end of a few sandy dirt roads. I…
A Wildflower Walk in the Coachella Valley Preserve If you ask me to name a favorite wildflower trail, the Moon Country Trail in the Coachella Valley Preserve is always near the top of the list. It’s roughly 4 miles (6.4…
A super bloom is a sudden outbreak of wildflowers that exceeds a regular spring bloom. After the heavy rain and colder weather this winter in Southern California, enough water was locked in the soil for dormant wildflower seeds to sprout…