Sports & Outdoors Archive

psst! — Where the Wild Things Are

Among about 200 accredited zoos nationwide, fewer than a dozen have taken part in initiatives to put animals back in the wild, The Living Desert Zoo and Botanical Garden is among that minority.

JANICE KLEINSCHMIDT

Speed by Example

Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in Desert Center, just off Interstate 10 between Palm Springs and Blythe.

By Judd Spicer

It’s Polo, People!

Empire Polo Club invites spectators to attend preseason games, which take place Saturdays and/or Sundays from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18

Inaugural CycleFest Rolls Out in the Desert

Push some pedals and race for a good cause. The Desert Recreation District’s Desert Recreation Foundation has partnered with Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine for the Coachella Valley Cycle-Fest.

Reap the Wild Wind

The San Gorgonio Pass provides a natural corridor for plants, animals, and a forceful current of air and water

BY ANN JAPENGA

5 Days, 5 Hikes

If you have only a few hours to hike, here are some local trails — ranging from easy to moderate — that satisfy your wanderlust.

A Perfect Circle

If you have been thinking you’re in an urban nexus with some fetching mountains on the fringes, what we’re about to tell you may be unsettling. Here in the greater Palm Springs area, you’re actually on an island — a puddle of urbanity surrounded by wildlands.

BY ANN JAPENGA

Go Out - and Take It In

With year-round sunny days, stunning views from horizon to horizon, and a definitive lack of frigid temps, the desert resort communities provide what most of the rest of the world dreams about: a place to enjoy fresh air and natural settings on a daily/nightly basis.

In Land We Trust

Prickly cholla, the glaring sun, and rugged terrain hardly deterred Lost star JOSH HOLLOWAY from helping to restore land near Joshua Tree National Park

BY JOAN PAGE MCKENNA

Editors Letter

The Salton Sea, the state’s largest lake and a perennial point of contention among preservationists, politicians, and residents — especially when gusts of foul air blow across the desert.

STEVEN BILLER