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.
Every year around Easter, Tracy Albrecht looks out her window to see lights flickering on the mountainside behind her Snow Creek home. She alerts her husband: “The hikers are coming.”
Suicide and Tahquitz rocks — lies just outside the boundary of the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.
When you pull up to the Indian Canyons tollgate, there’s plenty of time to study the posted rules (no pets, no loud radios) and watch the resident chipmunks play.
Brewster and monument volunteer Keith Bartleson set off full of optimism. It was a glorious, still morning in this primal desert wilderness so hidden and yet close to major highways.
Palm Desert and La Quinta claim an unusual concentration of urban fringe trails, a cluster seen in only a few places around the country, such as Boulder, Colo.
A few hundred thousand people a year chug up the steep road through Chino Canyon, sniffing the air as their engines start to overheat. Probably none of those thousands knows this place.
Some places in the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument beckon you with meadows and mossy boulders. Other places — such as the far Santa Rosas — say “Stay Out.”
Cradling the desert valley, the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains hold a rich history, a bright future, and awesome experiences for those who hike their trails
The Roadrunner cartoon character was especially drawn for Palm Springs Life magazine by the artists at Warner Bros. Jim Cornett, the curator of natural science at the Palm Springs Desert Museum, tucked a photo of a roadrunner and a photo of a bald eagle under his arm and ventured out onto the streets. His mission was to test the public’s awareness of animals.